All Iain Levison really wants is a steady paycheck, cable television, and the possibility of a date on Saturday night. But after blowing $40,000 on an English degree, he can’t find the first, can’t afford the second, and can’t even imagine what woman would consent to the third. So he embarks on a time-honored American tradition: scoring a few dead-end jobs until something better comes along. The problem is, it never does.

A Working Stiff's Manifesto is a laugh-out-loud memoir of one man’s quest to stay afloat. From the North Carolina piedmont to the Alaskan waters, Levison’s odyssey takes him on a cross-country tour of wage labor: gofer, oil deliveryman, mover, fish cutter, restaurant manager, cable thief, each job more mind-numbing than the last. A Working Stiff's Manifesto will resonate with anyone who has ever suffered a demeaning job, worn a name badge, or felt the tyranny of the time clock....

“Levison is a sly storyteller . . . by turns funny, sad, and insightful.”—Booklist

“Plenty of humor in [Levison's] gruff caper, but he punctuates the laughs with just the right hint of sadness. . . . A lean crime story and a stark alternative to glossier capers.”—Kirkus Reviews

Praise for Iain Levison:

“Levison is the real deal . . . bracing, hilarious, and dead on.”—The New York Times Book Review

“There is a naked, pitiless power in his work.”—USA Today

“Mr. Levison writes tight, punchy prose, with deadpan humor and a mixture of savvy about and sympathy for his fellow working stiffs.”—The Wall Street Journal

“Exciting, funny, poignant and sociologically important.”—Chicago Tribune

“An amusingly bleak little (im)moral fable. . . . A gleeful satire.”—Detroit Free Press

“Loaded with hilarious deadpan humor.”—Dallas Morning News

In a dying Pennsylvania coal town, three firends are looking for a way out. Mitch is a rebellious malcontent whose bad attitude gets him fired from a chain big box store. Doug can identify any pill by sight and any ‘80s rock song by the first three notes but doesn’t understand credit scores. Kevin got married and had a kid too soon and is now on parole after serving jail time for growing marijuana. The three of them dabble in petty crime and believe they have a talent for it. They start by stealing a high-definition TV, then set their sights on bigger scores. Soon things begin to get out of hand.

Iain Levison is the author of A Working Stiff’s Manifesto, an account of his post-collegiate work experience, consisting of forty-two jobs in ten years, and of two previous novels, Since the Layoffs and Dog Eats Dog. He lives in Raleigh, North Carolina.

...

Praise for Iain Levison:

“The real deal . . . bracing, hilarious and dead on.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Witty, deft, well-conceived writing that combines sharp satire with real suspense.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Levison writes tight, punchy prose, with deadpan humor and savvy.”—The Wall Street Journal

Philip Dixon is down on his luck. An escape from a lucrative but botched bank robbery lands him bleeding and on the verge of collapse in a college town in New Hampshire. How can he find a place to hide out in this innocent setting? Peering into the window of the nearest house, he sees a glimmer of hope: a man in his mid-thirties, obviously some kind of academic, is rolling around on the living room floor with an attractive high-school student. Professor Elias White is then blackmailed into harboring a dangerous fugitive, as Dixon—with a cool quarter-million in his bag and dreams of Canada in his head—gets ready for the last phase of his escape.

But the last phase is always the hardest. Attractive and persistent FBI agent Denise Lupo is on his trail. As for Elias White, his surprising transition from respected academic to willing accomplice poses a ruthless threat that Dixon would be foolish to underestimate.

"...Funny and acerbic, and crackles with raw energy."—The Sunday Times (UK) 

Iain Levison was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1963. Since moving to the United States, he has worked as a fisherman, carpenter, and cook, and he has detailed his woes of wage slavery in A Working Stiff’s Manifesto. He lives in Raleigh, North Carolina....