Who’s Your Daddy?

Should I have children, or travel? Pursue my dreams or get a job with benefits? Go to the denim sale or pay my electric bill?

Such pressing life questions seem simple compared to the quandary of middle-aged everyman Marcus Ripps, protagonist of Seth Greenland’s hilarious new satirical novel “Shining City.” After losing his factory job to China, Marcus faces defaulting on his L.A. home and a sexless marriage, until his estranged brother bequeaths him a dry cleaning business. But this solution is quickly soiled when he learns the only thing being laundered there is money earned by a suite of prostitutes.

So, what to do but rationally consider the irrational – becoming a pimp. After all, then Marcus could pay off his mortgage, afford his son’s over-the-top bar mitzvah, rescue his wife’s business, and buy his medical marijuana-smoking mother-in-law health insurance. And if he’s a good provider and boss, offering 401Ks and healthcare to his ladies, is he really a criminal?

Greenland’s exacting characterization and pithy descriptions cleverly position this ludicrous plot somewhere between a laugh-out-loud farce and an illuminating portrait of modern society’s moral ironies and unbelievable dilemmas.

The perfect novel for a time when To pimp or not to pimp? is everybody’s real-life question.

Available online at amazon.com or your local bookseller.