With the publication of Russ Madison’s first novel, VICTORY AMONG THE INSANE IN THE `70S, Boston University’s Mugar Memorial Library began collecting Madison’s writing. The Howard Gotlieb Special Collections Archive now houses all of Madison’s novels, poetry, letters, manuscripts (including his unique use of writing on rolls of paper towels) along with many works in progress. Madison, a native of Hamden and North Haven now resides in Woodbridge where he and his wife, Gi (also a novelist) are creative directors in their own advertising agency, Lone Wolf Advertising, Inc, an award winning communications agency now in its 20th year. Along with VICTORY AMONG THE INSANE, published by Grove Press, Madison has recently published THE MAN WHO WATCHED TRASH AND CHAPTER 11 – the latter an experimental novel that reads backwards to Chapter 1. In 2008, he won First Prize in a national poetry contest sponsored by The Milford Fine Arts Council for his poem, “Easter Island” written and revised over an eight year period. In 1997, he was awarded a prestigious Fellowship at The Provincetown Fine Arts Center where he was in residence to complete a long work on the late Norman Mailer. The “fantasy-novel” based on Mailer’s controversial life, titled CITY IN THE SKY, “a novel of the Fourth World” epitomizes Madison’s off the wall style and approach to writing. His unique use of paper towels (he does not use a computer) allows him to create in a “linear” style, where he can see the progress of a manuscript horizontally rather than in a pile of vertically stacked computer print outs. Since he drapes the walls and ceilings of his office-studio with his manuscript towels, he can actually walk inside his work and “live” in the manuscript. Boston University happily archives his paper towels along with the finished manuscript word-processed by members of his family. In fact, the Marcal Paper Products Company provided Madison with one year’s supply of paper products for using their brand in his literary achievements. His first novel, available in local libraries, was compared to some of the country’s finest literary writers including Joseph Heller, Thomas Pynchon, even Mark Twain and Herman Melville. A novel he has labored over for decades, HAAKENEN (a story of a Scandinavian immigrant who works at Yale University as a janitor-handyman) has been described by former Random House editor, Gordon Lish, as “destined for greatdom.” But that novel, like many others Madison works on concurrently, is a long way from publishing’s printing presses. The digital publishing age has been kind to Madison’s obscurity, allowing his published books to be available to a large audience. Even used books, often sell at a higher price than the original, have created a sort of underground cult following for his work. Several novels are available on Amazon.com and bn.com. Meanwhile, as President/Creative Director of Lone Wolf Advertising, Madison’s advice to young writers looking for the fast track of publishing and ultimate fame, is the conventional wisdom: “Don’t give up your day job.” Madison can be contacted at 203-393-0494, russ@lonewolfadvertising.com.