Walt Maguire

In Walt Maguire’s novel Monkey See, readers are thrown into this fantastical journey that is part how-to guide, part humorous essay.

The story revolves around Ed the Talking Monkey, an accidental creation of Dr. Cogitomni, a rather power-obsessed scientist. After being approached by General Chekchek, Ed is forced to choose between two worlds: humans and primates.

To avoid hanging too heavily on readers, Maguire mixes up the flow of the story by incorporating elements such as guidelines to create your own home lab experiment and how to throw dinner parties for multiple species. Not only are these distinctive additions hilarious, but they also show that Maguire doesn’t take himself too seriously as an author, which I appreciated the most.

While reading Money See, it is also easy to see that Maguire’s work was developmental rather than structural. It seems as though there were no set characters set at the beginning of the story yet with each page that was turned, these characters seemed to develop into unique individuals that had their own personalities.

Monkey See is a must-read for any person wanting to escape the world of knowns and travel into a world where species co-exist as one and anything can happen.… (mehr)

Monkey See is equally parts personal and professional. Walt Maguire’s primate-friendly novel is structured like a would-be instruction manual, making for a delightfully quirky read.

The story centers on Ed, a talking monkey, and his overall change from lab custodian to a monkey of his own making. Having been created by Dr. Cogitomni (the book’s resident reprehensible scientist) and recruited by General Chekchek, Ed has to decide which world to pick. It’s a coming-of-age story that’s never been explored before, and certainly never like this.

Ed’s own inner predicament is influenced greatly by Gigi, the doctor’s latest experiment, his own beliefs, and his own morals – all of which explore the line between human and primate. Without getting too heavy in any one area, the novel is further aided by a how-to voice, which offers answers to readers’ questions about primates (complete with funny footnotes and helpful illustrations). Together, these small details make a very jam-packed novel.

Monkey See is a brilliant blend of satire and emotive literature. The story is witty, of course, but it’s also quite brave. It’s a fun way to deal with a surprisingly clever topic. Much like the line between primate and human, Walt Maguire has boldly blurred the line between comedy and introspection.… (mehr)

To call Walt Maguire’s “Monkey See” a novel would to almost do it an injustice. The prose is hilarious and the delivery and organization makes for a fun ride. It’s the kind of creative writing that you not only want to keep reading, but that you want to reread over and over again.

Maguire weaves three plots in his prose, all of which are linked together and separate simultaneously. The first is the story of Ed the Talking Monkey, an experiment done by Dr. Cogitomni that went awry. Ed spends his time trying to make sense of his life, from interacting with other talking primates (many of whom are plotting an uprising against humans), interacting with humans and trying to find love with Dr. Cogitomni’s latest project, Gigi.

Gigi’s story is the second plotline. A small, innocent, cute little spider monkey, she is taken into the lab and injected with who knows what by Dr. Cogitomni and his assistants. Gigi and Ed develop a relationship, but once Gigi begins growing to dominating 70 feet and grows spikes out of her tail – all in an effort by Dr. Cogitomni to take over the world (what else would a mad scientist do?) – she and Ed’s romantic relationship comes to an abrupt end.

Lastly, the reader is provided with step-by-step instructions on how to create and raise a talking monkey, from everything to the perfect, idiotic assistant to who should be in charge of teaching the monkey to speak.

“Monkey See” is complete with scientific information, page-long footnotes (although these are not your college term paper’s footnotes), a monkey army, illustrations and evil geniuses. It is intriguing, smart and a complete restyling of the typical Frankenstein-eqsue/ mad scientist story (which I have had to read three times in college English classes, but I would have much rather read this). It’s engaging and satirical, with hints of social commentary and tons of information about monkeys that you never thought you needed to know but it just might come in handy one day, if a real Dr. Cogitomni ever appears in our midst.… (mehr)

MONKEY SEE is a charming and satirical examination of the question: "what would happen if monkeys could talk, and they had their own 401(k)s?"It is also a love story, an etiquette manual for talking apes, parenting help for said primates, and a demented "how-to" guide for the aspiring evil scientist.You'll notice I used the words "evil scientist", not "mad scientist", because really, you can't explain anything to mad scientists. They spend most of their time frothing at the mouth or terrorizing the village after drinking/injecting/inserting/stepping into/ or otherwise using the newly minted insane formula/device they have created to solve the problem of "what should I do this afternoon after I've finished eating bugs?"Evil scientists, on the other hand, have a plan.So it is with Dr. Harold Cogitomni, who is hatching a diabolical (evil) plan, to turn a Spider Monkey (Gigi), into a 60-foot, poison-breathing (to be clear, breath that is poisonous to others), crystal-spike-tailed behemoth capable of crushing houses and tanks. (Always a useful ability in a behemoth, or even your run-of-the-mill leviathan.) The only force working against the unluckly-in-love Cogitomni is Ed the Talking Monkey. Now, it should be noted that Ed is actually a Bonobo, and therefore, an ape, not a monkey. Much is made of this distinction between ape and monkey, but I think it's fair to say we can all agree that we're primates. Let's face it, whether you're a gigantic Spider Monkey compelled by an evil scientist to destroy Congress, an angry chimp with your own spear-wielding army (General Chekchek in MONKEY SEE) or a human novel reader finding yourself unhinged by an instruction manual on how best to taunt your evil scientific creation into raining terror on other puny humans, we all still have to face the question: "what should I have for lunch?" (Unless you're the Spider Monkey, in which case the answer is irradiated bananas.)Is this the craziest book I've ever read? Well, I'd be lying if I said I didn't find it challenging at times, but I've read much more wacky, less plot-oriented stuff -- John Hodgman's THE AREAS OF MY EXPERTISE, for example, which I also enjoyed. What I liked about MONKEY SEE is the voice of the writer Walt Maguire, which is conversational and sardonic at times, pointed and humorous at others. Don't be fooled by the easy tone and off-the-wall plot, though. Like other ENC Press books, MONKEY SEE is assuredly about something, and it will make you think. At the heart of this novel is the question of technology. Just because we can do something doesn't necessarily mean we should do something. Now, this is taken to extremes in the case of Gigi the Spider Monkey, who eventually becomes Giga-Spide (the aforementioned 60-foot behemoth), but it brings the issue into focus. At times I'm afraid that we don't question this enough. It seems as though every new advance is de facto something that we must adopt. It's just not true -- talk to the Amish. I don't think this book will be for everyone, which is not surprising, given ENC's credo, to be: "the intelligent alternative to fiction publishers who target the broadest possible audience." It is a jarring and entertaining read -- especially if you are in love with the idea of talking monkeys -- and who knows, you might even discover why apes get so testy if you call them a monkey.Personally, I don't care (just think about how cool it would be if your significant other called you a "love monkey") but boy, does it enrage General Kang.At the very least, it will make you think about science (evil, and otherwise), how we should be treating our primate cousins, and laugh along the way. Available from ENC Press. You can also get it as an e-book on Scribd. (In the interests of full disclosure, I should probably mention that ENC is the publisher of my first book, THE AMADEUS NET.) You can check out an excerpt at the ENC site.… (mehr)