The Patricidal Bedside Companion
I moved to San Francisco in 1990, after college, and wrote The Patricidal Bedside Companion.
Twenty-Something Writer
Somewhere between graduating from UC Irvine and moving to San Francisco, I ditched the idea of being a clinical psychologist to become a novelist. I had a romanticized notion of being a writer, of course, and nothing happened with Patricidal for three years. During that gap, I wrote two more novels, both unpublished, but one of which became the source material for my future rock opera, Thanatics. Then, seemingly out of the blue, St. Martin's called, dubbed me Gen-X, and published Patricidal in 1994.
I had a nice little media ride—my 15 minutes of fame—six months of bookstore readings, radio and magazine interviews, even some Hollywood interest. Then it was done. In 2021, I got the rights back and published my own 2nd edition through Amazon.
Backstory
Patricidal started out as a short story related to feelings I had about my despicable step-father. It took on a life of its own. I wrote it all longhand, in notebooks in Mission District coffee shops, and because I didn't own a computer, I ended up sneaking time on temp job work computers to type it into Microsoft Word. This was the very early 1990s, and I always carried around a floppy disk of my work, ready to steal time at lunch or after hours. By the time I got the book deal, I owned a 3rd-hand Apple Macintosh and could edit the final manuscript for delivery.
Press for Patricidal Bedside Companion
Kirkus Review, “Zany, Amusing and easy to read.”
Entertainment Weekly, 3-18-94 - "Title of the Week"
Creem Magazine, “An impressive first novel.”
Publisher’s Weekly, “This free-flowing first novel has a great deal of off the wall charm …Haddock creates the perfect voice for narrator Riley.”
IO Magazine, “An entertaining and compelling book.”
