Perpetual Comedown

As a doctoral student at Trinity College Dublin, Darren Walton is trying to decode an elaborate conspiracy he stumbled across as an undergraduate. To do so he must locate an alternate Ireland named Camland, the existence of which is proven when he discovers a literary journal whose contents mirror his own past. With proof of his wild theories, Darren is sure academic fame is imminent. But for this he is willing to sacrifice not just his sanity and physical safety, but also his relationships with the ones who love him most. In breathless prose, Declan Toohey weaves a contemporary yarn of academic intrigue and youthful irreverence, sexual fluidity and neurodiversity. Experimental, trippy, hilarious, compassionate, Perpetual Comedown is a riotous reckoning in the construction of the self.

DECLAN TOOHEY was born in Paisley, Scotland and raised in County Kildare, Ireland. His work has appeared in Channel, Soft Punk, and the anthology Queer Love, among other outlets. In 2021 he was a co-winner of the IWC Novel Fair, and he is the 2022 recipient of the Maeve Binchy Travel Award. He is currently an MFA candidate at University College Dublin, where he is working on his second novel under the supervision of Anne Enright.