Skateboy

Kevin Klix

Description

“A child’s toy consumed my life.

 

“The kid went up this kicker—which, if you are not a skateboarder, is an incline or decline you go up or down—launched in the air (the board staying under him), and landed on top of a four-foot tall railing just ahead of the kicker, glided along it, then finally dropped off and landed down on the cement. Perfectly.

 

“It was love at first sight.

 

“Lo and behold, I became a skater. . . .”

Carl Klitz is an amateur local skateboarder in South Florida. Since he was nine years old, he's struggled to find a way to “make it” in the harsh world of the skate industry. When he discovers friends that could possibly get him there, he finds himself in an even harsher world: the taxing festivities of getting kicked out of spot after spot, the challenging, undertaking superiorness of other skateboarders seeking the same purpose of exposure, and the tedious, agonizingly painful attempts of landing tricks for hours on end. Yet upon arrival of the sizable premier of his final skate video, Carl has the epiphany he’s been looking for—is the skate world really what it appears to be, or is all of this a journey to find his sense of self and friendships?

   A surprising story of youth, growing-up, and learning life’s trials, Skateboy is a fiendishly insightful, eye-opening novel from one of the most provoactive of urban writers.

Sujets

• Urban Lit
• Street Lit
• Young men
• Autobiographical novel
• Black comedy
• Skateboarding
• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: Klix Artwork Ltd.
• Date de parution: 24 septembre 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780996541084
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 5 Mo

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Copyright

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also by K EVIN K LIX:


Biflocka: A Novel
A Lion In Your Number: A Novel
Elevator Music: A Novel
To anyone who remembers . . .

Read This First!
(Author’s Note)

The skateboarding industry is in the millions. This surprises most people that aren’t involved in the skate world, and that’s okay most what we skaters call “non-skaters” don’t understand the concept of trying trick after trick for hours on end just to get maybe three seconds of footage for a video that may or may not happen. That’s the point of the skate industry: You skate, do tricks, and if they are good, you gain a sense of status . Then people in the industry “know you.” YouTube is huge for the skate community because you can find skaters doing the most insane things and getting recognition. That’s how people get noticed and sponsored. The skate industry is poppin’! You’ll feel accomplished!
Now, I’ve never wrote an introduction to my own book before because I think it’s egotistical but I made this to tell you, firstly, that I wanted to make a novel that showcased the world of skateboarding in a new light. There isn’t a single book that shows what it is really like to be a skateboarder. It’s hell! You have to prove to people that you don’t like that you’re worthy of this status . It’s a mess, and I have to say, it’s sad. I see that now, but that’s what skateboarding is all about. You chase the status because you are chasing recognition. In many ways, that’s how skateboarders get so hung up on skateboarding and landing the best tricks, because it’s simply an artist at their craft, looking for an audience to showcase their work to. That’s what it’s all about. And that’s why skateboarders make skate videos and work so hard at them. It’s a form of art and style.
I guess you could say I fell into skateboarding because I’m very much an attention-seeker. This idea is sort of ingrained in our heads as skateboarders. It’s honestly a joke to want to care so much about what people think of your skateboarding. And that status , that cause for attention on my own art, has transcended into my adulthood and caused me great sorrows in the process. You can apply attention-seeking into every aspect of our lives. This is the new millennium of people trying to “make it big,” and skateboarding is no exception. I have no idea what it is, but showcasing artwork as been so heavy in my psyche that it makes me nauseous.
In most cases, this novel also shows the lifestyle of the skateboarding industry. Mostly skaters are scumbags, because we find humor in the idea of being a scumbag. That’s just the way skateboarding is. We trash-talk, we treat people like crap, and we are genuinely awful. That’s part of growing up, being a kid, and being influenced by skateboarders that are total scum. Everyone does it, and when you see something so often, you tend to get desensitized by the scumminess, in an odd way, and you become it. That’s what the main character in this novel goes through.
Carl Klitz is the main character and is happily my alter-ego. This is a semi-autobiographical novel, but is loosely based on real events. I can still say it’s fiction because this is a span of a decade into a person’s life, so it’s rightfully impossible to showcase every little detail of said life. Regardless, I still say that this life is not the least bit interesting.
I know what you’re thinking: This author-guy is stating that this is a semi-autobiographical novel about skateboarding and he says it’s not interesting? Yes, I’ll say that over and over! What this book consists of is nothing but pure petty bullcrap. That’s just what it is. And that is the point of the book. There are so many characters in this book, so many different outlooks and sayings and actions, that all the characters seem to blur together. That’s another point of the book. I’m also showcasing life .
In life, whether a skateboarder, lawyer, YouTuber, cop, mom or dad, you have the things you care about. The problem with Carl is that his cares about life are all over the place, that he just happens to fall into skateboarding rather than wanted to. Everything he does is influenced by others for the simple fact of “fitting in.” For me, this novel is a complete exploration of my sense of Self. I wanted to make a roadmap for myself and see where my thoughts came from, why I reacted the way I did, and what I can come up with in the present moment.
With this all in mind, it’s hard to say I had any opinion in these scenes during the times when I was living them. I was a child, a teenager, and I was just living . I had no real opinion, and for this, there is barely any commentary or opinion on subject only rarely. The book can read monotonous if you are a “non-skater,” but if you have known what it’s like to be a skateboarder, be in high school, have relationships, have problems, then skateboarding isn’t the main plot in the story it’s just a foreshadow onto something larger.
There is no plot when it comes to real life, in my opinion. The events in these upcoming pages have led into each other by the prior events, creating a sense of determinism into the Carl’s life. This is, by proxy, how Carl becomes so frustrated and out of control. He felt ultimately nothing because he is just living in the monotonous lifestyle. That is the point of reading the book.
This novel is basically not just for publication reasons or for personal financial gain, because I do not anticipate it being a huge best-seller (upon writing this). It’s a dark book with many different backdrops, and for me this is a novel that is for the people that are characters based in the story, and for me to understand more about who I am . That’s also another reason I wrote this garbage.
I feel bad if you consider reading this, because you probably will not like Carl in the slightest: he’s self-inflicted, crass, angry, sad, annoying, silly, funny, depressing, and he can really frustrate you sometimes. This is actually how I am in real life, but obviously I’ve grown since these phases. There are moments when Carl is a very heartfelt creature, but it’s all ties into the realism of the book, so if Carl offenses you, I wholeheartedly apologize I’m just trying to showcase something real . He very much contradicts himself in each chapter, and it’s very hard to understand what he’s thinking and feeling. That’s also your mission to figure out if you plan to read this cover to cover. But I must warn you of this, and that’s my reasoning for this introduction.
It is also said that, while the characters in this book are based on real people, all of their names have been changed their looks, actions, and everything else to protect said people from any embarrassment or praise caused in this book. I care a lot about every individual in this book, and I harbor absolutely no feelings of hatred toward them; on the contrary, if they have found themselves in this book, they are actually important to Carl and his growth as a fictional character.
This was no easy book to write . . . I must say. I actually cried upon its completion because a lot of this book shows darker meanings to my own sorrows, and it is clear that Carl is a very troubled individual dealing with loads of baggage and mental issues. Like I said, this book is a journey and road-map into my discovery of my sense of Self and who I am. It’s a book that I can look back on and know, without a fraction of a doubt, that I lived a life. It was good, it was bad, and I feel as though anyone who reads my previous works should pick this up if they would like to know more about myself and my thought processes.
That said, if you haven’t read a book of mine, I suggest putting this book down because this is not a great book to start with. I would like to say my previous novels have done well for me, but that’s because I have worked on plot and character development on each of them. This book you are considering is based on fact, and uses a very boring sort of tone to tell the events leading, so it may not be enjoyable for you to read, both for my regular readers and my starting/new readers. This would have to, in some way, shape, or form, I would have to say, be a collector copy of my work, if you could level with with on the idea.
If you are not involved in this novel and aren’t close with me, and have no idea what it’s like living in Florida or being a skateboarder it may be very, very difficult for you to understand the jokes, concepts, and everything else highlighted in this novel. And for that, I apologize if you decide that you do not, in fact, want to purchase this book. You are forewarned in advanced so you cannot say I didn’t tell you so.
But pay no mind to me! I love this book! I personally think it’s my best and I favorite it more than my prior books. So take what I say with a grain of salt. And enjoy!
Kevin Klix, 2015

mid -2001





A child’s toy consumed my life.
It started the day a friend of mine, Cody, told me that YMCA’s ramps were big. He dragged me along on his little “find-out” mission when I was, at the time, nine years old, going to Palm Springs Elementary School. It was there that I met my said friend, Cody. It was Cody’s birthday. He was turning ten years old. Cody was into skateboarding, just a little. He dabbled but wasn’t very good. He wanted to celebrate his birthday, just him and I, at the skatepark. So I guess that was the thing to do.
The day was very sunny, I remember. It was like