He took a big gulp and sprayed it out and yelled, I know man piss from woman piss! and went around trying to start fights with all the men.
People kissed each other without touching, talked without touching. Not like Greeks.
I leaned back on my elbows and watched them, listened to what they said about the paintings.
“It’s the heat. People go blank and minimal in the heat.”
“Art is always minimal.”
“It’s economy. That’s what art is.”
“This isn’t.”
“They’re go-geous,” said Pauline. “I want to buy all of them.” I had an impulse to correct her pronunciation. Why do the English speak English so badly?
“Show off stuff.”
“I don’t dress to attract attention. I dress to reward it.”
“Pintos, polyester, picking up the kids at day care.”
“You and me and the TV.”
“Bon soir,” said a man to the bar girl as she squeezed past.
“Simple human action.”
“You must swim out beyond your depth. No other place to be free.”
“Just in off the hurry circuit.”
“Holds the brush in his fist.”
“Has to come from the heart.”
“I fuckin’ own him.”
“Best Greek food I ever had was in Chicago.”
“No peanut butter here.”
“We have another island to go to.”
“Male writers no longer have anything to say.”
“Lesbos, Goa, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bali.”
“Doesn’t know the difference.”
“Europeans trapped by the past.”
“You have to destroy to create.”
“Flying cockroaches on this island.”
“I always thought, when I finish this painting I’ll have said it, I’ll be free. But no.”
“Something missing in American women.”
“Went through every movement, but he never changed his message. Always direct.”
“Gandhi was wrong. He went to London and they wouldn’t let him into Mayfair’s so he turned against the Empire. So what?”
“India’s the red herring of the twentieth century.”
“Gratuitous, like music.”
“Simple honesty very difficult. Otherwise why write poems?”
“A natural celibate.”
“How intensely civilized of you to agree with me.”
“Jackson Pollock and all that shit.”
“Infallibly comfortable.”
Originally published in softcover as Home from the Party by Ronsdale Press in Vancouver:
“Considering the price and scarcity of potable water on an island suspiciously like Hydra, the discovery of a beautiful teenage corpse floating in a cistern is no laughing matter. But almost everything else is lively and fun in this mystery of political intrigue and sexual abundance in the Argosaronic.”—The Athenian
“Home from the Party is a slow-fused but explosive thriller set on an imaginary Greek island, presented in all its artsy glamour and glittering corruption….if you like epigrams, knowing insights into failed relationships, evocations of la dolce vita, Hydra-style, this is for you. MacLean…has published a previous novel, Foreign Matter, with Atheneum Press, New York. Although Foreign Matter was very well received, Home from the Party suggests that MacLean would be well-advised to undertake a series of mystery novels, using ‘Captain Costa’ and the Greek setting he evokes here with such skill and obvious joy.”—Edward Winston
“Featuring his usual comic touches, the book manages to skillfully intertwine a murder, a Greek investigator, showbiz celebrities, drug dealers, artists, gigolos, the CIA and the junta, in a fast-paced, entertaining web of entangled connections.”—Athens Week
“In Home from the Party MacLean has created a fast-paced, witty novel that pushes the murder mystery in exciting new directions.”—Keith Maillard
“This is a most entertaining and satirical tale in which black humour and farce are brought together with real acuity.”—Reference West
“MacLean is able to develop an interesting combination of characters in his novel. Each character is displayed with his/her own unique style and Konstantinou’s adventures are different and very funny.”—Greek News Weekly
“Home from the Party is a fast-paced murder mystery laced with humor.”—The Athens News
“The roller-coaster ride begins!”—Greek News Weekly
On YouTube:
Boccaccio’s "The Husband"
Boccaccio's "The Horse Trade"
Boccaccio's "The Stupid Friar"
Chaucer’s "The Miller's Tale"
