A wonderful book and a big, huge quantum leap for Anselm Berrigan, whose previous work I have also enjoyed, but this book is really something different, it gives you the passionate can't-put-it-down experience of reading a great novel, and technically it's so assured you don't even notice how he, Anselm, is producing all his effects. The hero of "Zero Star Hotel" goes on a mythic quest; the story's told very simply, with lots of gritty detail and an attention to surfaces and realities that grabs your interest and won't let go. I can't speak highly enough about "Zero Star Hotel" but in the words of Paula Abdul, Anselm, you have raised the bar for all of us, you're my American idol now.

--Kevin Killian

I pulled the string never had a clean chance hacked to the make trapped
inside a bong five pages open and put down arbitrarily hornswaggled blocked
off by a ribcage the best defense played in weeks patent laws flexible I'm
exposed so leave me alone deeply impressed with your nonchalance imitating
the enemy education deficit syndrome stray cats coming out of the couch
banging nails on the floor for connection's sake I like you naming the spaces
between us and getting paid saving seeds to be sued by Monsanto transparent
as all hell nullified in the planning stage startled in the pulpit reached utopia
and took a left an idea to torture you with brains sucked out and poured
down throat welcome to our virtual community a sweet simple person
recoiling from the light