J.Thomas Tucker reads from The Datemaker Chronicles

Nov ’10
13
7:00 pm

DatemkrChron

J. Thomas Tucker hails from Central Iowa. The area is not exactly a melting pot of liberals, but he was drawn into the Woodstock culture of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Tucker bought into “Hippiedom” and experimented with more than his share of illegal substances. His understanding of this world and the mind of the addict led him to write this story. The Datemaker Chronicles is an embellished true story. Tucker’s journeys across the United States were documented by handwritten notes following the “heroine” Elizabeth Jones (Not her real name) and were transcripted into print over a seven-year period. Tucker’s influences are J.D. Salinger, Cormac McCarthy, The Beatles, and the First Amendment.

No one ever grows up dreaming of becoming a junkie, yet there are plenty of addicts in the world. Elizabeth Jones is one of them. Liz is one smart cookie; just ask her. She has the world in the palm of her hand, but when her reckless ways put her on a one-way street heading to the darkest back alleys of the ghetto, she won’t return and never attempts to make a comeback. Life on the streets is like that. In her case, it swallowed her whole. Yet, for Elizabeth, it was not always like that. She had been married once. She wore fine clothes and attended exclusive soirees, but four years into a nasty habit of smoking crack changed her style—and her fancy. A gluttonous, insatiable addict, her sexual proclivities allow her to support her drug use by selling her body without much ado. With a daughter in the fray, this unabashedly scandalous and loosely biographical account of drug addiction is truly eye opening. If you are a user or know someone who is, this book paints a realistic picture of what life is like for a strung-out, middle-aged junkie. In it, Tucker examines addiction and the fall of a woman who was a willing accomplice to her own demise and paid dearly to live life in the fast lane.

For more info: http://www.jthomastucker.com