Left of the Loop

About the Book

Set in the mid 1980s, Left of the Loop chronicles the misadventures of two roommates living in a decrepit loft just west of Chicago’s famed Loop. Narrating the story is Spungkdt, a poet who uses the raw material of the surrounding meatpacking district to give his writing verve. His roommate Stark is a drummer for a hapless rock and roll band seeking ever-elusive success. Pioneers of sorts, they are the neighborhood’s only inhabitants besides hookers and the homeless for a radius of many square blocks. Together they confront the ugly sights, rude sounds and foul smells of the urban frontier. With dark humor and biting wit, author Tim W. Brown smashes the popular myth that the 1980s were all about beemers, cocaine and junk bonds for most young people, and he captures the essence of an historic neighborhood that has long since lost its soul to gentrification.

About the Author

Chicagoan Tim W. Brown is the author of three novels, Left of the Loop, Deconstruction Acres and the forthcoming Walking Man. His fiction, nonfiction and poetry have appeared in over two hundred publications, including Slipstream, Storyhead, The Ledge, Lumpen, Rockford Review, The Bloomsbury Review and Another Chicago Magazine.