Mookie Spitz reads from section 14 of his novel Jonnie Fazoolie & the Transfinite Reality Engine, dropping us right into a tense, awkward, and strangely electric encounter.
Johnny, drenched in sweat and amped up on drugs, stumbles through a Cancun hotel lobby in search of a simple cup of coffee — anything to ground him after his latest meltdown. Instead, he collides with Dr. Basine Felderhossen, a petite German physicist in stilettos and a leather dress, attending a nearby string theory and cosmology conference that Jonnie's clueless eyes had completely missed.
Their first exchange is a mess of misunderstandings and nervous energy. Jonnie confuses cosmology with cosmetology, tries to impress her with sloppy jokes about precision and accuracy, and spills coffee everywhere. Meanwhile, Basine sizes him up with a mix of disdain and curiosity, her sharp academic mind clashing with Jonnie's chaotic street philosophy.
But as they talk — Jonnie bragging about chasing money above all else, Basine lamenting how modern physics often feels like science fiction — something clicks. Despite his vulgarity and manic oversharing, Fazoolie's reckless honesty draws her in for a moment. They swap business cards, hers crisp and German, his oversized and absurd, covered in pompous titles and ridiculous quotes.
By the time they part, Jonnie's half-baked ideas have started to harden into something more dangerous. Basine's offhand comments about physics and reality trigger the next phase in Fazoolie's desperate mission: the wild notion that he might actually build something to rewrite his miserable fate — the first real spark of the Transfinite Reality Engine...
The Novel
Jonnie Fazoolie & the Transfinite Reality Engine
First Reading
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