I Cheerfully Refuse

Set in a not-too-distant America, I Cheerfully Refuse follows Rainy, a bereaved musician who embarks under sail on Lake Superior in search of his departed wife, a bookseller he deeply loved. An Orphean narrator described as endearing, Rainy seeks refuge in the lake's harbors, fogs, and remote islands while encountering lunatic storms and rising corpses from warming depths. On land, Rainy discovers an increasingly desperate and illiterate people, a malignant billionaire ruling class, crumbled infrastructure, and a lawless society. Despite Gulliver-like challenges at sea with no safe landings, he finds solace in physical beauty, surprising humor, and generous strangers. A young girl unexpectedly joins him aboard. As Rainy's guileless nature inadvertently makes him a rebel, his private quest for his wife grows into something wider, sweeping up friends and foes alike. The novel presents a narrative set against despair and offers a rallying cry for the future.