When Tom Brodzinksi tries to give up smoking, he inadvertently sets off a chain of events that threaten to upset the tenuous balance of peace in a not-too-distant land. When he flips the butt of his final cigarette off the balcony of his vacation apartment, it lands on elderly Reggie Lincoln, lounging on the balcony below. Lincoln suffers a burn, and the local authorities charge Tom with assault—in a country with draconian anti-smoking laws, a cigarette is a weapon of offense. For reparation, Tom must leave his family behind and wander through the arid center of the country’s deserted territory. Joining Tom on his journey is Brian Prentice, a mysteriously sinister presence, who has his own sins to make up for. Inevitably, the two men encounter violence, forcing them to come together despite their seething mistrust. A profoundly disturbing allegory, The Butt reveals the heart of a distinctly modern darkness.

“Though Self's landscape is his own invention, Brodzinski's odyssey parallels the Coalition of the Willing's misadventures in Iraq and bears a strong resemblance to Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness... There's far too much going on in this wicked satire to filter it down to a single set of references, but Self is interested in exploring why we do things that we know are bad. Sometimes it's what we do (going to war); sometimes it's what we don't do (looking the other way when people are being enslaved). Self's shocking conclusion amounts to a scathing indictment that will leave many readers wondering if they too are guilty of the habit.”—Jim Ruland, Los Angeles Times

“From Self, the British master of the satirical fantasy, comes a loquacious and inventive farce about the demise of civilization.Tom Brodzinski, relaxing on vacation in the postcolonial Feltham Islands, sets off a string of unfortunate events when he flicks a cigarette butt off his hotel balcony. It lands on the scalp of tourist Reginald Lincoln III. Reggie’s happy to laugh it off, but things slide from bad to worse when Reggie is hospitalized and Tom is charged with assault with 'a projectile weapon with a toxic payload.' After a chaotic trial, Tom is ordered to pay a restitution of two good hunting 'riffles,' a set of 'coking pots' and $10,000. The catch is that the restitution needs to take place in the tribal heartland. This launches Tom and Brian Prentice, another foreign transgressor (Tom suspects pedophilia), on an expedition of Conradian proportions . . . Self confirms his reputation for pulling off cleverly modeled literary experiments . . . Self successfully presents an ironic and timely metaphor for our post-9/11 Bigger Brother world.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)