Spillage

It's 1976, and The Big Apple is in sorry shape. Besieged on all sides, the city has become a graffiti-coated, garbage-filled, crime-ridden cauldron, teetering on the edge of total collapse. Adding to New York's towering woes, a revolutionary group called the Satanic Vanguard has kidnapped the mayor, set fire to Coney Island and threatened further mayhem. All that Gotham has to hope for are its resurgent Yankees, who've come back from the dead to reach the World Series by riding the arm of their rookie phenom Nick "The Swan" Spillage. But Satan and his Vanguard plan to snuff that hope out too, and they've targeted a young couple to help with their diabolical scheme.

The rock and roll-loving pair- Joan and Eliot -came of age in the late 1960s when the counterculture peaked. They've lived together in New York's East Village for eight years, making sweet music on the subways while their beloved city crumbled around them. Then, in shades of the Faustian musical Damn Yankees, Joan develops an obsession with The Swan and makes a deal with the Devil to capture his heart. Meanwhile, Eliot wrestles with what it means to preserve his own soul as he makes a valiant effort to win her back and save the day.

Spillage is a wickedly fun throwback to a chaotic time. At its heart, the novel is a love story and a search for identity in a world that's gone off the rails.

Michael Gross began writing Spillage in 1976, the year the story takes place, while working as Managing Editor of Fiction magazine, teaching, and earning his MFA at New York's City College. He also has a BA from Trinity College and an MBA from NYU, and was the recipient of a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship. In 1978, he embarked on a forty-five-year career in crisis communications, culminating in his serving as CEO of Finsbury (now FGS Global). He is married, has three children and three grandchildren, and divides his time between Brooklyn and Fire Island.