American Bastards is not an acid novel, although some characters occasionally do take acid. It is not a fairy tale, but it might, at times, seem magical. It is not a science fiction story, despite taking place in another world. The world is Americana and it features a panel of dead rock stars trying to save the world, a booze hound Tom Sawyer, a hitchhiking Uncle Sam heading to Hollywood with stars in his eyes, a love story with a prostitute, fortune tellers, gypsy-punk circus performers, visions of New York City invaded by the restless dead, and a war between Art and Business. American Bastards also deals with a generation challenging more than authority, but the nature of their existence. Rising up not in protest marches, but in creativity, they all feel what the not-so-humble narrator knows: that we are the bastard children of the American Dream because it, like so many dead-beat dads, abandoned us at birth.