Alexander Yates' debut novel has been called "plucky," "dazzling," "magical," "masterful" and "fierce."
Tonight it will also be local, as Yates returns to the Downtown Writer's Center in Syracuse -- where he once taught fiction classes -- to give a free reading from Moondogs.
Set in the Philippines, the novel opens with protagonist Benicio Bridgewater arriving in Manila, to visit his estranged father, Howard. When his father turns up missing, Benicio at first shrugs it off as another in a long series of disappoinments from his absentee dad. But in reality Howard has been kidnapped by a junkie cabdriver who hopes to cash in on his captive. His rescue hinges on the antics of a bizarre band of bruho cops with mystical powers.
The son of a U.S. diplomat, Yates has born in Haiti and has lived in or visited 43 countries so far. After he graduated from the University of Virginia with an English degree, he returned to the Philippines, where he had attended high school, to work for the American Embassy. In 2004, he left the state department and moved to Syracuse, to earn a master's degree at Syracuse University. He and his wife moved to Washington last year.
His free reading begins at 7 p.m. at the DWC, 340 Montgomery St., Syracuse.
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