Books published by publisher Fountain Press

Poetry. Literary Nonfiction. Part Charlie Chaplin, part Rimbaud, visionary poet Rob Cook recreates childhood and young adulthood in one of the funniest yet emotionally potent collections to appear. DIARY OF TADPOLE THE DIRTBAG is biography compressed into a series of darkly humorous vignettes—bristling, self- deprecating, yet celebratory. A long- haired Tadpole at last emerges from the miasma of his boyhood in an ill- fitting green trench coat. His saving graces are his acute vision (although his eyesight is bad along with a host of other maladies)and his humor, gloriously his own. Although he fails, he wants to become the Einstein of Failure.

The protagonist, Jay Cooley is an 11th grade high school student at the exclusive private Essex School. Jay is an outstanding student and a developing athlete but he never feels that he really is able to fit in socially with his peers. Through hard work, discipline, and blind confidence Jay is able to overcome his own obsessive compulsive demons and finally begins to realize his potential both athletically and in the academic arena. Several runners on Jay’s team are using performance enhancing drugs which brings them great initial success. Soon however, they are discovered and this sets the stage for their fall from grace. Their fall, is largely cushioned by the bed of privilege in which they live. In an ironic twist however, the drug dealer himself a product of the most privileged background is liberated from the perfectionistic measures defining his claustrophobic environment when becomes a fugitive from justice. In the end, both the drug dealer and Jay find their unique personal independence and freedom and begin to live their lives authentically.

The protagonist, Jay Cooley is an 11th grade high school student at the exclusive private Essex School. Jay is an outstanding student and a developing athlete but he never feels that he really is able to fit in socially with his peers. Through hard work, discipline, and blind confidence Jay is able to overcome his own obsessive compulsive demons and finally begins to realize his potential both athletically and in the academic arena. Several runners on Jay’s team are using performance enhancing drugs which brings them great initial success. Soon however, they are discovered and this sets the stage for their fall from grace. Their fall, is largely cushioned by the bed of privilege in which they live. In an ironic twist however, the drug dealer himself a product of the most privileged background is liberated from the perfectionistic measures defining his claustrophobic environment when becomes a fugitive from justice. In the end, both the drug dealer and Jay find their unique personal independence and freedom and begin to live their lives authentically.