When an art scene takes root in a pop-up colony called Freedom Springs, micro-visionary Ben Wilfork promotes the giant, autobiographical 600 square foot canvases of former chess prodigy and high end dominatrix Rhonda Barrett using his Hidden Wheel as a bridge to the future before pre-Datastrophe history completes itself. It's a book about the scams of the modern age--artistic self-promotion, corporate infiltration of hipsterdom--and it's hilarious. At the same time this is a philosophical literary work that dissects hipsterdom to get at the core of what it's all about. A must-read for art fans, punk fans, anyone who wants to know how the truly original ideas can get subsumed by the corporate machine--and how to save them. Told in an intriguing intersecting point of view style this is a powerful short novel by an emerging talent.

Michael T. Fournier's debut novel, "Hidden Wheel” (Three Rooms Press, 2011) uses his punk rock background to reflect on the financial crisis, forced obsolescence, and nature of criticism. He is also the author of a book-length discussion of the Minutemen's 1984 album "Double Nickels On The Dime,” the 45th installment of Continuum Press's "33 1/3” series. His writing has appeared in/on, among others, Vice.com, the Oxford American, Pennsylvania English, Stolen Island Review, Pitchfork, Fluke, Chunklet and the Boston Phoenix. He has taught literature and punk rock history at Emerson College, Tufts University, University of Maine, and beyond. He lives in Western Massachusetts with his wife and their cat, where he edits the Cabildo Quarterly.