John Tottenham is the author of four volumes of poetry: The Inertia Variations (2004 & 2010), Antiepithalamia & Other Poems of Regret and Resentment (2012), The Hate Poems (2018), and Fresh Failure (2023). His long-standing column in Artillery is widely read, and his paintings and drawings have been exhibited in solo shows at galleries in Los Angeles and New York. Service is his first novel.
So heartfelt that we find ourselves howling with laughter because, despite his best efforts, John Tottenham writes with a rare comic intensity and re-creates himself in the guise of an unforgettable character in fiction -- Colm Tóibín The weariest bohemian, with a Keatsian death-drive he somehow keeps outliving, John Tottenham is my favourite nihilistic romantic -- Rachel Kushner, Booker-shortlisted author of Creation Lake Hilarious, refreshingly mean-spirited and often brilliant * Washington Post * A post-punk Byron ... Service looks like a blow but is a prayer -- Constance Debré, award-winning author of Love Me Tender