Described as "Offbeat! Unusual! But, very creative and charming!" by Al Gini of Loyola University Chicago, this collection of stories, poems, and vignettes carries a deeply spiritual message.
In the same literary tradition as Lewis Carroll's beloved classic, Alice's Adventure in Wonderland, author Matt Scallon weaves a fanciful tale about a woman's journey to incorporate the many benefits of backyard chickens into her 1870s village that conveys multiple layers of meaning.
On one level, Mary's overcoming of deep-seated prejudices against backyard chicken coops represents social progress. On another level, the retelling of stories from the Gospels signifies a sacred aspect that intensifies as the book progresses. And on yet another level, intriguing parallels to Joseph Atwill's book Caesar's Messiah provide a whole new twist on the "Christ myth" theory, leading to an interesting proposition for a new "Holy Trinity."
The Virgin Coop: a trilogy comprises three short stories, "The Virgin Coop," "Frontyard Horses," and "The Strange Tale of Martha Wolf," followed by a section called "Songs, Poems, Dreams," which details the healing dynamics the three stories serve to convey.
Through allegory, parody, and whimsical wordplay, this work, as a whole, functions as a modern fable, a highly imaginative metaphor for spiritual awakening.
About the Author: Born in 1959 in Chicago, Matt Scallon attended Oakton Community College in Morton Grove and Southern Illinois University Carbondale before earning a BBA in marketing at Loyola University Chicago. He spent his thirty-year career in the contract furniture industry in Chicago and Nashville.
His failed attempts to legalize backyard chickens in his hometown during 2012-2013 served as the inspiration for his book The Virgin Coop: a trilogy. It is an unusual collection of highly imaginative short stories, poems, and vignettes that serves as a metaphor for a spiritual awakening. For Scallon, the benefits of raising one's own chickens cannot be overstated, and he remains an advocate for the rights of individuals to raise chickens in their backyards.
Scallon resides in Arlington Heights, Illinois, with his wife, with whom he has two adult sons.