In this audiobook of his satirical, fast-paced novel, Will Ferguson skewers society's obsession with self-improvement.

Generica is the story of Edwin de Valu, a beleaguered junior editor at Panderic Press. In desperate need of a new self-help author, Panderic decides to publish a rambling 1000-page manuscript by an obscure author named Tupak Soirée. What I Learned on the Mountain is different from any self-help book before it in one respect — it works!

The book quickly becomes the best selling book ever. Suddenly, everyone CAN be happy, CAN lose weight and stop smoking, and CAN get rich quick. Edwin fears that the bliss he has unleashed on the world may indeed be a curse. One by one his friends and family take up the cult of "Happiness" (a word now trademarked by Panderic Press). Soon Edwin begins to see that any system of blind acceptance is ultimately destructive. He realizes that he is the unlikely champion that fate has chosen to fight the menace of Happiness™.

Travel writer and novelist Will Ferguson is the author of several award-winning memoirs, including Beyond Belfast, about a 560-mile walk across Northern Ireland in the rain; Hitching Rides with Buddha, about an end-to-end journey across Japan by thumb; and most recently the humour collection Canadian Pie, which includes his travels from Yukon to PEI.

Ferguson's novels include Happiness™, a satire set in the world of self-help publishing, and Spanish Fly, a coming-of-age tale of con men and call girls set amid the jazz clubs of the Great Depression. His work, which has been published in more than twenty languages around the world, has been nominated for both an IMPAC Dublin Award and a Commonwealth Writers' Prize, and he is a three-time winner of the Leacock Medal.

www.willferguson.com

Will Ferguson's profile page

Ron Halder is an accomplished stage, television, and radio actor who does regular voice work for a wide range of animes, including Zoids: New Century Zero, Spider-Man Unlimited, and Kong: The Animated Series. His most recent work for BTC Audiobooks is the comic novel Happiness™ by Will Ferguson.

Ron Halder's profile page

"This is broad satire . . . told with an impish, nudge-wink grin. Ron Halder's witty performance is perfectly tailored to the material."

<i>Globe and Mail</i>