Ann Magaha

Randy Attwood’s book Spill is a boisterous little comedy with a subversive edge. It will appeal to those who believe corporations are not people, to skateboarders, to game enthusiasts, and to all blessed with a sense of irony, old or young. In it, underdog, Fred Underwood, goes up against an array of self- serving fat cats, all loaded with dough, all full of politicking blather. Poor Fred, fired, broke, and horny, takes out a lot at McDonald’s and hangs out drinking a lot at the neighborhood bar. There he ogles and is indulged by the sympathetic bartender, Zoe, with whom he hatches a moneymaking scheme. Certain of ultimately losing, Fred proposes that he and Zoe run against each other for political office, cash in on campaign contributions, and split the coffers. The trouble is their bid backfires and Fred, to his dismay and disappointment, winds up a legislator-- a winner, for the first time in his life. In a couple of hilarious misadventures he, furthermore, manages not only to do some social good but to puncture a few of the overblown right wingers in power. The corrupt offices of state, however, are no life for the essentially decent and likable Fred. Better to take his money and run--to Zoe and her son, Jeremy, a skateboarder and gamer, whose own equally funny story, connects crucially to Fred’s. If the book becomes a screenplay, and it should, any number of actors will be drawn to these engaging characters. And Hollywood had better not change the title. “Spill” is an ingenious trope for the ailments of our society.