Welcome to another installment of If My Book, the Monkeybicycle feature in which authors compare their recently released books to weird things. This week Giano Cromley writes about The Prince of Infinite Space, his new novel out from Propertius Press.
If The Prince of Infinite Space were a color, it would be olive green—the color of Kirby Russo’s military school uniform, the one he continues to wear even after he’s gone AWOL because it earns him sympathy from a nation preoccupied with the impending Gulf War.
If The Prince of Infinite Space were a dog breed, it would be a schnauzer—surly and churlish, schnauzers aren’t for everyone. But once you’ve earned their affection, there are few breeds more loving and loyal.
If The Prince of Infinite Space were a school cafeteria lunch, it would be pizza. Honestly, can you even call it pizza when the crust is soggy bread and the cheese is unidentifiable? Perhaps not in the strictest culinary sense. But you inevitably find yourself looking forward to it every Friday after social studies, and it sticks with you long after the last bell rings.
If The Prince of Infinite Space were a car, it would be an 80s Crown Vic—big and boxy, an anachronism the day it rolled off the assembly-line, but its gas-guzzling V8 heart beats strong, as it ferries its charges cross-country in comfort, if not necessarily style.
If The Prince of Infinite Space were a dwelling, it would be a youth runaway shelter—rough, few creature comforts, but stocked with a clientele who’ll do anything for an earnest kid trying to track down the love of his life.
If The Prince of Infinite Space were a baseball field, it would be the old Comiskey Park—underloved and underappreciated, it was a public works money pit designed and built for one purpose: entertaining fans on a hot summer day.
Giano Cromley is the author of the novels, The Prince of Infinite Space and The Last Good Halloween, in addition to the story collection, What We Build Upon the Ruins. He is the recipient of an Artists Fellowship from the Illinois Arts Council, and is currently a BookEnds Fellow with Stony Brook University. He is an English professor at Kennedy-King College in Chicago, where he is chair of the Communications Department, and sits on the committee for the Center of Equity for Creative Arts. He lives on the South Side of Chicago with his wife and two dogs. Follow him on Twitter at @gianoc.
