Like Real

“A hilarious bizarroid science fiction horror thriller, with great vivid characters, crackling first-rate dialogue, nonstop momentum and unguessable plot twists galore. Rarely does a book make me laugh out loud this often, while keeping me engaged in the delirious drama unfolding.”

—John Skipp, Wonderland Award winning author of Don’t Push the Button

In Shelly Lyons’s debut novel, Like Real, Vic Moss—kenjutsu hobbyist and clueless Lothario—lets vanity dictate his decision to acquire an experimental new-tech prosthesis that promises to evolve into a seamless, realistic looking hand. Instead, it tears from his body, transforms into his clone, and pursues a relationship with the same woman Vic has in his crosshairs—forcing Vic to kill or be replaced.

This mind-bending body horror rom-com is a rollicking Cronenbergian gene splice of Idle Hands and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. It’s freaky. It’s fun. It’s LIKE REAL.

“Cyborgs, self-improvement, and the horrors of the LA dating scene collide in Like Real. A side-splitting, ass-kicking, and oddly tear-jerking good time.”

—Brian Asman, author of Man, Fuck This House

ABOUT SHELLY LYONS

Shelly is a nice lady from Los Angeles who considers herself a real LA townie. Her favorite TV movies are The Initiation of Sara, Mansquito, Yeti: Curse of the Snow Demon, and Lifetime’s Killer Under the Bed, the best movie about evil sentient dolls.

As an entertainment journalist, she interviewed Roger Corman and once angered Burt Reynolds by asking what he learned about directing from Paul Thomas Anderson. Now she knows Reynolds directed at least nine movies, and wishes to apologize to him, wherever he is.

She wrote screenplays for unsavory characters and marketing copy for a big search engine before reinventing herself as a narrative prose writer. Perhaps you’ve seen her short stories in anthologies or on her site, shellylyons.com.

If you wish to meet Shelly in her natural habitat, you might find her skulking through various Los Angeles neighborhoods in search of a Little Free Library or standing in line for a double feature at The New Bev.