Next Exit Magic Kingdom: Florida Accidentally [Paperback]

As much-lauded travel writer Rory (Stalin's Nose, The Oatmeal Ark) MacLean cheerily admits on the first page of his latest book, the conception of Next Exit Magic Kingdom was an accident. He had been intending to write a dark, deeply researched thesis on Germany but then glanced in some tabloid travel pages and realised no-one took holidays in Germany, and that lots of people took holidays in Florida. So, in search of sun, sea, sex--and better sales for his book--off he went to the land of Goofy and conch fritters. The result, for all its shambolic construction and its air of affable laziness, is a minor triumph of the travel writer's art; this is probably because, as MacLean discovers, Florida is itself the camp, self-regarding epicentre of pleasure-seeking recreation. Whether he's drinking "Celestial Seasoning Red Zinger tea" in a new age cafe, visiting the "Fern Capital of America", swimming in the swampy seas in his "Like Naked Fig-Leaf Swimwear", or just hanging out with the rollorblading "bohunks" of Miami Beach, MacLean finds a US state that is a state of mind, or rather, a state of laid-back, languid, post-ironic, sun-baked mindlessness. There are serpents in this airhead Eden, of course. As MacLean points out, the hot mosquito-riiden Florida panhandle might be relatively crime-free, but that's got something to do with the 1.8m American citizens in prison. And the suburbs of Miami might be a vivid palette of cultures and skin tones, but they are also sitting on the faultline of some potentially violent ethnic sensitivities. This is not a flawless book. The ending is weak, the writing sometimes self-indulgent. But it is a sharp, funny, engaging and rather brave attempt to pin down the essence of a very strange, yet strangely magnetic place. --Sean Thomas --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

'Rory Maclean's book embodies all the virtues of the place it describes - it is zippy and fun; it has heart and energy and a restless haphazard charm. He has wrestled the Sunshine State like an alligator and stuffed and mounted it for our readerly pleasure.' --Louis Theroux

'Entertaining and insightful. Probably quite unlike any Florida you or I have seen.' --Anthony Sattin, Sunday Times

Some travel books make you want to go there with the writer. This one makes you pleased he s done it for you. --Neil Mullarkey, Observer

Florida - land of pink flamingos, melanoma, the blue rinse, gang warfare and the electric chair - was a place that Rory MacLean knew nothing about and had no intention of visiting. That was until a mistake caused the wrong newspaper to be delivered to his door and twenty-four hours later he found himself bound for the Sunshine State. Abandoning himself to the winds of chance, MacLean stumbled across an alternative Florida, far removed from the thrills of Gatorland, Wet nWild, MGM Studios and Buc neer Bay. He spent time in the Psychic Center of the World, met the Saint of Palatka, chatted to Wanda Flip - the head mermaid of Weeki Wachee - and paid $5 to drink from the Fountain of Youth. His final destination was Disney's Magic Kingdom where Mickey Mouse can be best man at your Fairy Tale Wedding . Next Exit Magic Kingdom shatters every stereotypical image you have ever associated with Florida. Entertaining and warm, this is a story of the places that chance can take you to and a portrait of the many sides of Florida, where dreams can be made as quickly as they are broken.

Fast, taut, sharp, seriously funny and wonderfully observed, a book that reveals with terrific verve the weirder and more wonderful aspects of the Sunshine State.

Rory Maclean had hoped to get through life without ever visiting Florida. Then one day the 'Daily Mail' is delivered to his house by mistake. Twenty – four hours later he is in the land of Mickey Mouse, gull-wing Thunderbirds and eternal youth. He discovers the Garden of Eden, communes with the hereafter and narrowly avoids gratuitous sex. He swims alongside mermaids, meets the granddaughters of slaves and shares Marshmallow Bunnies with Florida's last remaining monks. And along the way he considers the role chance plays in our lives, and how American dreams might seem to come true under the swaying palms of Florida. 'Next Exit Magic Kingdom ' is a journey to find the soul of the Sunshine State – a place at once kooky and dangerous, superficial and sincere, sensationalist, bland and dumb – which will warm even Mickey's plastic heart.

'Stalin's Nose' showed Rory Maclean's ability to write superb black comedy, and now he aims fullbloodedly for the mainstream with an outstanding book on one of the world's most popular holiday destinations, which, like all things American, has a deeply strange, violent and wonderful side. Both 'Stalin's Rose' and 'Under the Dragon' were short-listed for the Thomas Cook Award. In 'Next Exit Magic Kingdom' Rory Maclean excitingly combines comedy, literary brilliance and popularity of subject to out – Bryson Bryson.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Rory MacLean's books, including best-sellers Stalin's Nose and Under the Dragon, have challenged and invigorated travel writing, and -according to the late John Fowles - are among works that 'marvellously explain why literature still lives'. He has won the Yorkshire Post Best First Work prize and an Arts Council Writers' Award, was twice shortlisted for the Thomas Cook/Daily Telegraph Travel Book Prize and was nominated for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary award. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a regular contributor to BBC Radio 3 and 4. Born and educated in Canada, he lives with his family in Dorset.