Mike Albo

Another Dimension of Us

Juxtaposing a trip to his childhood home -- where he has retreated to try to make some sense of his hectic existence in New York City -- with memories of growing up gay in seventies suburbia, Albo creates "Mike Albo." This character's memories are from a fictitious life that's outrageous, hilarious, and embarrassingly real. From a typical suburban childhood to his perpetual search for true love, Albo evokes a poignant, nostalgic past and a vibrant, energetic present. By turns vulnerable and jaded, flamboyant and obsessive, Hornito is full of subversive humor and outrageous irony.

My Lie Life

Hornito

Virginia Heffernan

You can't escape him. He swerves in and out of your life as if effortlessly walking through a crowded restaurant. He's a passive-aggressive master. He's as undetectable as a whisper and as effective as a tiny toxic pill. You probably went to school with him, and he knows everything you've done-every foolish secret ambition you've nurtured, everyone you wish you'd never slept with, every lame, fleeting trend you've embraced. The Underminer throws you into a spiral of self-doubt each time you see him. But...the Underminer is your friend. With this book, Mike Albo and Virginia Heffernan channel this hilarious and mysterious evil that we all have encountered. Through 15 years of booming successes and miserable failures, they pursue this powerful "friend" as he slowly and relentlessly dismantles the life of a nameless victim. Here is the subtle slayer of your hopes, the tactful destroyer of your dreams: the Underminer.

The Best Friend Who Casually Destroys Your Life

The Underminer

“A gay coming-of-age story that’s rip-roaringly funny and sympathetic.”—People David Sedaris and Sandra Bernhard rolled into one, Mike Albo offers his own unique, witty, and touching tale on being young, single, and gay in today's media-obsessed culture. Juxtaposing a trip to his childhood home—where he has retreated to try to make some sense of his hectic existence in New York City—with memories of growing up gay in seventies suburbia, Albo creates "Mike Albo." This character's memories are from a fictitious life that's outrageous, hilarious, and embarrassingly real. From a typical suburban childhood to his perpetual search for true love, Albo evokes a poignant, nostalgic past and a vibrant, energetic present. By turns vulnerable and jaded, flamboyant and obsessive, Hornito is full of subversive humor and outrageous irony.

Successful, gorgeous, and beloved by everyone you know, the Underminer remembers your every foolish ambition and humiliating mistake-and never fails to remind you. The Underminer makes you feel suicidal. But the Underminer is your friend. Mike Albo and Virginia Heffernan do us all a public service by capturing the elusive evils of an age-old archetype. To understand and resist your toxic friend, you need The Underminer. Who is the Underminer? "An insincere, name-dropping predator with a rise so meteoric that you feel like crawling into your sad little apartment and eating gallons of ice cream right out of the carton while sniffling over reruns of old Bette Davis movies."-New York Times Book Review "A character that is so malicious, so insensitive and sadistic, that we can only gape horror-struck as every venomous phrase rolls off her tongue."-Rocky Mountain News "A psychological predator of the highest order. A viper cloaked in velvet. The Shaquille O'Neal of schadenfreude."-Boston Globe "An ego-skewering, passive-aggressive blowhard of indeterminate gender, surfing annoyingly along the breaking waves of pop and consumer culture-from dot-com to New Age, from hip-hop to a yurt in Afghanistan-always on top and armed with a put-down."-New York Times "The 'friend' who somehow manages to turn every compliment into an incredibly subtle insult, thus making you wonder whether you are truly the most neurotic person in all of Manhattan-or if your friend is just, well, evil."-New York Post

Mike Albo

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