Spoonbenders

He tried to match her cool and pretend she wasn t in the room. Then she d walk past, sideswiping him with the scent of bubblegum and cigarettes, and the rational part of his brain would swerve off the road and crash into a tree.

Out of desperation, he set down three commandments for himself:

 
     If your cousin is in the room, do not try to look down her shirt. It s creepy.
     Do not have lustful thoughts about your cousin.
     Under no circumstances should you touch yourself while having lustful thoughts about your cousin.

 

So far tonight the first two had gone down in flames, and the third was in the crosshairs. The adults (except for Uncle Buddy, who never really left the house anymore) had all gone downtown for din- ner, someplace fancy, evidently, with his mom in her interview skirt, Uncle Frankie looking like a real estate agent with a jacket over a golf shirt, and Frankie s wife, Aunt Loretta, squeezed into a lavender pant- suit. Grandpa Teddy, of course, wore a suit and the Hat (in Matty s mind, Hat was always capitalized). But even that uniform had been upgraded slightly for the occasion: gold cuff links, a decorative hand- kerchief poking up out of his breast pocket, his fanciest, diamond- studded wristwatch. They d be back so late that Frankie s kids were supposed to sleep over. Uncle Frankie mixed a gallon of powdered Goji Go! berry juice, placed a twenty-dollar bill with some ceremony next to the jug, and addressed his daughters. I want change, he said to Mary Alice. Then he pointed to the twins: And you guys, try not to burn down the fucking house, all right? Polly and Cassie, seven years old, appeared not to hear him.

 


 

 

make Spoonbenders an intensely endearing read. The premise will hook you, the plot will entice you, and then the Telemachuses themselves will make you fall in love. BookPage

Masterful. . . . gracefully balances the outrageous melodrama of Chicago mobsters and shadowy government agencies with the ordinary mysteries of family dynamics. . . . Readers will emerge from the fray sure they know each Telemachus down to the smudges on their hearts. A skillfully written family drama that employs quirk and magic with grace. Kirkus Reviews (Starred)

"Gregory makes excellent use of the comic potential of hapless superpowers and sets up some intriguing mysteries, but mostly the novel is a celebration of family love and self-protection."  Chicago Tribune

This gloriously imaginative novel featuring a family of somewhat reluctant psychics has a nifty trick up its sleeve as whimsical and eccentric as the Telemachus family is, their hopes and desires perfectly mirror our own. Spoonbenders is hilarious, heartfelt and brimming with humanity. Cynthia D Aprix Sweeney, New York Times bestselling author of The Nest
 
Imagine amazing powers but do so with uncommon creativity, rigor, and humor. You might, if you're lucky, arrive at the delicious drama of the girl who can smell lies; the all-at-once-ness of the boy who can t not see the future; the great dilemma of the psychic pressed into service as a spy. Daryl Gregory's novel traces the line where gift balances against curse and by the end, we realize he isn t only talking about amazing powers after all. Spoonbenders is X-Files meets The Sopranos with a real, roaring heart. Robin Sloan, New York Times bestselling author of Mr. Penumbra s 24-Hour Bookstore

Did you spend a childhood convinced that you were *this close* to developing telekinetic powers? Me too! The supernatural may elude us still, but there is real magic in Daryl Gregory s gleeful story of the Amazing Telemachus Family. Spoonbenders is also about the power of belief and whether we can ever escape our tangled family legacies and why we might not want to. Jade Chang, author of The Wangs vs. the World

"Daryl Gregory has written a novel as gripping as it is hilarious. The members of the Telemachus family may have powers beyond our own, but in telling their tale, Gregory reminds us of the bits of ordinary magic that are at the heart of every successful family. You will love this book."  Steven Rowley, national bestselling author of Lily and the Octopus

A big generational family story of longing, nostalgia and humor. The writing is so deftly charming and yet deeply felt. Spoonbenders is entertaining and moving a perfect summer read. Charles Yu, author of How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe

"A joyfully weird book about psychics and con artists, and the marvels that result from the intermarriage of the two." Charlie Jane Anders, author of All the Birds in the Sky

Spoonbenders is brilliant. With the Telemachus clan, Daryl Gregory has created a family that is part J.D. Salinger and part David Foster Wallace. But the most impressive trick in the novel isn t how they read minds. Gregory s real gift is how he uses them to show the depths of the human heart. Christopher Farnsworth, author of Killfile and Blood Oath