Tony R. Rodriguez was born in Fremont, California in August of 1977. Rodriguez is an award-winning novelist, poet and journalist. He graduated from San Francisco State University in 2002. A year later, Rodriguez published his first novel, The Disappearance and the Slow Awakening. His other books soon followed: Rapid Eye Metaphors in 2005, Simplicity Regurgitated: Poems and Shorts in 2006, and When I Followed the Elephant in 2011. Currently, Rodriguez writes for EXAMINER.com, where he composes under the column “San Francisco Literary Examiner.” Here he has covered various beats that have captured his literary fancy. Namely, Rodriguez has been fortunate to review dozens of books and interview the likes of Anne Rice, Paul Krassner, Rachel Kramer Bussel, Lisa Lutz, Eric Drooker, and Carolyn Cassady. He's also a Board Member of PEN Oakland, a chapter of PEN Center USA, which is itself an affiliate of PEN International.
“Perhaps somewhere between On the Road and Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas once hitchhiked the artistic talent of Tony R. Rodriguez; however ... he shows a growing maturity that places him closer to Corso’s ‘Writ on the Eve of My 32nd Birthday.’ He may not yet be “…old and wise with white hair in a tall library/in a deep chair by a fireplace,” but he is surely on his way with poems and stories that show a unique slice of his America as he strides into the new millennium, a voice to be reckoned with today and for years to come.”
—Roger Humes, director of The Other Voices International Project
early praise for
WHEN I FOLLOWED THE ELEPHANT:
“The energy and exuberance of Tony R. Rodriguez’s prose in When I Followed the Elephant will leave readers reeling. Perhaps only Roth in Portnoy’s Complaint and the novels of Kerouac compare. Don’t drink any coffee before reading this book: you won’t need it.”
—Eric Miles Williamson, author of East Bay Grease
and Welcome to Oakland
“Tony R. Rodriguez has deposited a proverbial elephant in the literary room, having followed it like a Twitter junkie. This book — as timely as hell and as entertaining as heaven — proves that satire is winning the race with reality.”
—Paul Krassner, author of Who’s to Say What’s Obscene?
“A clever and biting rebuke — or allegiance — to hyper-partisan politics that guide everyday American life. Rodriguez’s harsh novel leaves readers fearful that an obsession with being ‘right’ can lead to something so terribly wrong. When I Followed the Elephant is a fascinating tip-toe down the line between passionate and disturbed.”
—Dewan W. Gibson, author of The Imperfect Enjoyment
“What a ride! Rodriguez’s depiction of Desi’s descent into ideological madness is both entertaining and sobering. This ultra-concentrated romp should be required reading as an antidote for all suffering from the fever of polarization, and a vaccination to those not yet infected.”
—Andrew Bowen, founder, editor-in-chief, Divine Dirt Quarterly
“Tony R. Rodriguez is not what he seems, nor is he otherwise. ‘Elephant’ is a heroic attempt at diplomacy for America’s 21st Century cold civil war.”
—Marc Olmsted, student of Allen Ginsberg
and author of What Use Am I A Hungry Ghost?
“When I Followed the Elephant outlines that thin membrane between righteous and radical, between secure and secular, through a story both personable and expository, yet disguised as a lark. This is an amusing, disconcerting, and wholly honest narrative. A rattling fable that snaps from the here and now.”
—Ray Succre, author of Tatterdemalion
“In an America that many perceive as ideologically black and white, neo-Beat author Tony R. Rodriguez presents a gray area where Republicanism and liberalism intersect, and where common sense means stepping out of that overlap and not polarizing one’s own beliefs.”
—Nick Belardes, author of Random Obsessions (2010),
Lords (2005), and the first literary Twitter novel, Small Places (2008)
“This woolly mammoth of a tale will spray water in your face and push you out of your comfort zone. Unforgettable.”
—J.D. Nelson, author of On The Toad
Tony R. Rodriguez
a mortician of Beat thoughts
Foreword by BRENDA KNIGHT
Afterword by PAUL A. TOTH
Last Word by ANDREW DAVID KING
Artwork by JOHNNY BOOS
When I Followed the Elephant offers a glimpse of certain dodgy American ideals shortly before the rise of Barack Obama and Obama-mania. It’s an uncertain time that preludes the explosive growth of the controversial Tea Party Movement. America is entering into yet another grim cycle of extreme religious and political polarization. The year is 2007 and the Presidential Primaries are right around the corner. America is electric with a new sense of political fervor. Our disconnected hero is Desi Marquiso, a hard-line Republican who watches Fox News, listens to dicey conservative talk radio, reads Time Magazine, despises Radical Islam, and mixes his religious faith with his ideological politics. Desi’s also a conservative teacher at a very liberal high school. Foolishly convinced the entire faculty and staff are devoutly left-wing, Marquiso finds himself alone throughout his school days. This only helps fuel his anti-Left politics. But that’s not all of Desi’s troubles: he hasn’t had sex in a very long time; he’s experiencing major car issues; he’s in the process of purchasing his first home; he and his wife are expecting their first child; and he becomes convinced his wife is cheating on him because he stumbled upon a strange nose hair trimmer in the bathroom. Soon enough, Desi’s life alters for the worse. Desi fundamentally becomes an insurgent of his own personal convictions. But there is hope. Unlike many religious and political extremists of today, Desi becomes aware of his misguided convictions and soon realizes that atonement is not too far out of reach.
Cauliay Books
Paper trade and KINDLE edition
29th of April, 2011, 140 pages
ISBN 978-0956462473
UK £8.99 USA $14.54
Though asked to read at the 2011 Litquake Literary Festival, Rodriguez was regrettably unable to attend at the last minute due to personal conflicts. For more information about the festival, please see the official 2011 Litquake Program, page 80, under "Phase 3."
