Question of the Day - 15 June 2022

Is there ever!

We've been saving this question for months, waiting for Arnold to publish his new novel. 

And we agree: Arnold Snyder is a writer first and a gambling expert second. Writers have to write; if they don't, they're wasting their days and lives. And Snyder writes up a veritable storm, all day, every day. We know first-hand. 

In addition to blackjack and strip clubs, he writes about poker and poker tournaments, online gambling, and Sudoku, as well as produces some of the more twisted fiction we've ever had the pleasure to read (and critique in manuscript form).  

We published his book Risk of Ruin some years ago. It's a fine novel in which Bart Black, a professional gambler, and a biker and tattoo artist, becomes obsessed with an underage stripper who believes she's God. It's full of sex and passion, rebellion, and religion, themes that run through all of Arnold's works of fiction. From the back cover copy: "Risk of Ruin attempts to answer a question that has tormented gambling men since Adam placed that all-in bet on Eve: Is she worth the risk?" 

In 2017, Snyder also self-published three e-books in his "Smut4Nerds" series.

Pink Wedge is a romance, of sorts, in which everyone gets to take a turn at being God. When Don Huxton, a retired bookkeeper, gets the tap on his shoulder, he's "It." But being God isn't easy, of course, so it's a good thing he has his romantic interest, Lulu, to help him.

Transplant is a novel that all plant lovers will get a big kick out of: talking houseplants. Again, it's a Snyder-style (re: roundabout) romance between a plant trapped in a man’s body and a woman trapped in a plant’s body. 

And When the Wolfbane Blooms is the story of a nice Midwestern boy who teams up with a nice Midwestern girl to foster the boy's lifelong dream of a world dominated by nice Midwestern werewolves.

All three are available on Kindle for $2.99.

But Arnold's latest work is an epic novel called The Blockchain Nation -- Trust the Science. Though conspicuously focused on sex, it's also the most intensely satirical and inventive writing we've ever seen from him. 

Here's how it goes. 

A decade earlier, crypto-concussion bombs caused a sharding of the genesis block, which stabbed the hard forks into soft forks and decentralized the on-chain governance -- in other words, a global tech war opened doors to parallel universes.

The protagonist, Wally Denton, is still looking for a universe he can tolerate. Problem is, the rules in each are determined by different interest groups: politicians, lawyers, scientists, bankers, teachers, athletes, artists, mothers, even teenagers, and of course gamblers. So you can probably see where the satire comes into play. 

As for the inventiveness, Snyder presents a whole new and vivid nomenclature of nooky, in a language called "Chainese": roundup, playground, snacks, splash, woosh, swing set, payday, prayday, cartoon, glop the trout, and full Kelly on the sturgeon, to cite a few. Not to mention the various sexual techniques, every one of which will crack you up: the Schenectady snow shovel, the dirty hopscotch, Uncle Wiggly goes to town, reverse kitty-kat, yoyo, parachute slide, Dutch gobble, whistling weasel, New York slide, and crazy salt shaker, among others.

Poor Wally finds himself chased from universe to universe, each with more moronic rules than the last and more and more brainwashed inhabitants. All he wants is to escape the Blockchain, but once you're in, there's no getting out -- at least that's what everyone believes. Does Wally discover a (suitably sexually unique) way to prove everyone wrong? No spoiler alerts here. Read the book.

As we mentioned, we held this question until Blockchain Nation became available, because if fans of Arnold Snyder would like to see where his cockeyed consciousness is really at, this is the one to do it with. It's available in print and e-book on Amazon at the link above.