COMPARE FULL RETAIL PRICE:Paperback $18.99; Ebook $5.99
ISBN eBook:978-1-0053-3531-1
Author:Giano Cromley
ISBN Paperback:978-1-4583-1780-3
Go back to the 90s and chase after the love of your life
THE PRINCE OF INFINITE SPACE
Worldwide Release August 2, 2022
It is 1990 and, while the country stands on the brink of war with Iraq, Kirby Russo is finally at peace with the world. At seventeen years old, he's figured out some important lessons: how to stay out of trouble with the authorities; how to write muck-raking articles that expose the hypocrisy of said authorities; and, most importantly, how to avoid obsessing about his long lost girlfriend Izzy (who has run away and may be in trouble in Chicago). But when a rich classmate snags the editorship of the school newspaper out from under him, Kirby knows his brief career as a conformist is over. An opportunity to reestablish his hell-raising bona fides arises when his long-lost father shows up with a shady past and a half-baked scheme. Together, they embark on a cross-country road trip to connect with a family he never knew, and maybe even track down Izzy. Kirby soon realizes, however, that life's biggest lessons – the ones that really matter – never happen according to plan.
THE PRINCE OF INFINITE SPACE is a thoughtful story with wry, bright touches of humor, that will appeal to young adults and all readers who appreciate a well-crafted plot, unique characters, and an ending with a twist.
Approx. 241 pages. 6" x 9". Printed on archival quality, acid-free paper.
PRAISE FOR THE PRINCE OF INFINITE SPACE
O, Kirby Russo, Prince of bad choices! Why do I still love you so? Is it your gadfly sense of humor, the way you turn a phrase, or how you keep making brave misguided plans in the face of adult hypocrisy and compromise? Thank you for letting me see the vulnerability you hide from everyone around you. Most of all, last-chancer, I love you because Giano Cromley created you too complex and contradictory to be pigeon-holed. You are always true and vitally alive. --Diane Lefer, author of Out of Place and California Transit (winner of the Mary McCarthy Prize)
There may be no pot of gold at the end of all the various rainbows that Kirby Russo tracks down in his well-meaning misadventures, but there is for the reader who engages with Giano Cromley’s entrancing, comedic, and at times poetic coming-of-age-story which is true story-telling gold. —Joseph G. Peterson, author of The Rumphulus
Reading Giano Cromley’s fabulous new novel, The Prince of Infinite Space, is a little like taking a road trip with Holden Caulfield. Kirby Russo, Cromley’s narrator, is young and intelligent, and like Holden, he’s quick-witted and damaged. But Kirby is kinder and more vulnerable than Salinger’s narrator; he’s a young man searching for purpose, for love, and for family. In this engaging, funny, and moving love story/road story, things go right and things go wrong. Ultimately, though, they keep on going like the grumbling but mostly reliable Crown Vic that carries Kirby, his newly found father, and by extension us, toward Chicago and self-discovery, toward grief and toward grace. Once in these pages, we have no choice but to sit back enjoy the ride. --Patricia Ann McNair, author of Responsible Adults
In The Prince of Infinite Space, a sequel to The Last Good Halloween, Giano Cromley revisits his wise-beyond-his-years protagonist Kirby Russo, always whip-smart and disarmingly honest, now in military school with America about to enter the Gulf War. When Kirby’s estranged dad shows up to take Kirby on a road trip to heal old wounds, you’ll be hooked by this big-hearted tale that’s full of wit and vulnerability. You’ll want to follow Kirby to a third book as he grows up to inevitably ask: Do any of us ever really grow up? —Leland Cheuk, author of No Good Very Bad Asian
With Cromley’s clear vision, a road trip to find a girl transforms into a quest much more meaningful and profound. Kirby Russo is an engaging and relatable anti-hero who can’t decide if he needs to blow up his life or put it back together. By turns funny, charming, sad, and beautiful, Prince of Infinite Space is a delightful read. --Darrin Doyle, author of The Girl Who Ate Kalamazoo and The Beast in Aisle 34
I couldn't stop reading The Prince of Infinite Space. I read it in one sitting because I cared about the characters. The people in this story are credible and flawed. The novel is a journey of a young man to himself. We root for him. The writing is clean and engaging, designed to carry us along. We go with it. It's worth the ride into infinite space. --Angela Jackson, poet, novelist, playwright
