Adam Joseph Goebel III (born September 2, 1980) is an American author, whose work centers around the peculiarities of culture in Middle America. He was raised in

Henderson, Kentucky Henderson is a home rule-class city along the Ohio River and the county seat of Henderson County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 29,781 at the 2020 U.S. census. It is part of the Evansville–Henderson, IN–KY Combined Statis ...

, a small town on the

Ohio River The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its river mouth, mouth on the Mississippi Riv ...

across from

Evansville, Indiana Evansville is a city in Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 118,414 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is Indiana's List of cities in Indiana, third-most populous city after India ...

. His parents, Adam Goebel of Louisville, and Nancy Bingemer Goebel of Henderson, were both

social work Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social wo ...

ers and met in

Frankfort, Kentucky Frankfort is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It is a list of Kentucky cities, home rule-class city and the county seat, seat of Franklin County, Kentucky, Franklin County in the Upland Sou ...

. His older sister CeCe is also a social worker. Goebel's books have been published in sixteen languages and have found their largest audience in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, and

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. Goebel currently lives in

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

. He is divorced and has a son, Adam Joseph Goebel IV ("Joe"). Goebel's third novel, ''Commonwealth'', was published on July 4, 2008. His fourth and fifth novels were published in German.

Education and careers

Goebel attended

Brescia University Brescia University is a private Catholic college in Owensboro, Kentucky, United States. It was founded as a junior college for women and is now a coeducational institution, offering undergraduate and master's programs. History Brescia Universit ...

Owensboro, Kentucky Owensboro is a Home rule in the United States, home rule-class city in Daviess County, Kentucky, United States, of which it is also the county seat. It is the List of cities in Kentucky, fourth-most populous city in the state. Owensboro is loca ...

, where he received an English degree with an emphasis in professional writing. He has received a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admi ...

in Creative Writing from Spalding University in

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

Novels and nominations

MacAdam/Cage Publishing of San Francisco published Goebel's first book '' The Anomalies'' in April 2003. ''The Anomalies'' was a

Book Sense The American Booksellers Association (ABA) is a non-profit trade association founded in 1900 that promotes independent bookstores in the United States. ABA's core members are key participants in their communities' local economy and culture, and to ...

76 title selected by the nation's independent booksellers and was nominated for the Kentucky Literary Award. Goebel's second novel, '' Torture the Artist'', was released in October 2004, also by MacAdam/Cage. ''Torture the Artist'' was the finalist for the 2004 Kentucky Literary Award and made the long list for the Dylan Thomas Prize for 2006. In fall of 2005, ''Torture the Artist'' was published in German under the title ''Vincent'' by

Diogenes Verlag The Diogenes Verlag (short: Diogenes) is a Swiss publisher in Zurich, founded in 1952 by , with a focus on literature, plays and cartoons. It has been managed since 2012 by the founder's son, Philipp Keel. It is the largest independent literary pub ...

, a Swiss literary publisher. Goebel attended the

Frankfurt Book Fair The Frankfurt Book Fair (German: , FBM) is the world's largest trade fair for books, based on the number of publishing companies represented. The five-day annual event in mid-October is held at the Frankfurt Trade Fair grounds in Frankfurt am ...

, and he and ''Vincent'' were featured in ''

Der Spiegel (, , stylized in all caps) is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of about 724,000 copies in 2022, it is one of the largest such publications in Europe. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

''. On July 4, 2008, Goebel's third novel, ''Commonwealth'', was published. In 2009, he was the recipient of Romania's Ovid Festival Prize, awarded to a prominent young talent In 2013, Goebel's fourth novel '' I Against Osborne'' was published in German under the title ''.'' It was also published in French. In 2019, Diogenes published a collection of linked stories titled ''.'' The English title is '' I Know It's Going to Happen for You Someday.''

Music career

The Mullets

From 1996 to 2001, prior to becoming a novelist, Goebel sang and played guitar for a

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

band called

The Mullets ''The Mullets'' is an American sitcom created by Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein. Starring Michael Weaver, David Hornsby, Loni Anderson and John O'Hurley, it aired on UPN from September 11, 2003, to March 17, 2004. Premise The Mullets are blue ...

with band members Jason Sheeley and Justin Hope. The band played about one hundred shows throughout the Midwest (many in

) and released two cassette tapes, a seven-inch EP record, and three compact discs. The band had a rabid following in the Tri-state area of Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois. Goebel wrote over one hundred songs for the Mullets, some of them bitter love songs ("Swimmin' Alone with the Turkeys"), some scoffing at his surroundings—particularly small-town life ("Kentucky Waterfall"), some making fun of popular culture ("Intrusive T.V. Neighbors"), and some purely comedic ("At a Flea Market").

Novembrists

Goebel sang and played guitar for Novembrists, with bandmates Jr. Bailey and Luke Bickers. The band stayed together for about a year, long enough to record and release a CD. They played one farewell show. Novembrists songs were a bit darker and had a few more literary allusions, such as

Vladimir Nabokov Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov ( ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian and American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Born in Imperial Russia in 1899, Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Rus ...

("My Sweet

Lolita ''Lolita'' is a 1955 novel written by Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov. The protagonist and narrator is a French literature professor who moves to New England and writes under the pseudonym Humbert Humbert. He details his obsession ...

") and F. Scott Fitzgerald ("All the Sad Young Men").

Bibliography

Goebel's protagonists are intelligent rebels, sensible madmen, and rejected dreamers disgusted by a society that embraces boy band media and girl glam. His prose laments the absence of originality and morality in contemporary culture. * '' The Anomalies'' (aka ''Freaks'', German title) (2003) * '' Torture the Artist'' (aka ''Vincent'', German title) (2004) * ''

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

'' (aka ''Heartland'', German title) (2008) * '' I Against Osborne'' (aka , German title. Currently available in German only) (2013) * '' One Day It Will Be Good'' (aka , German title. Currently available in German only) (2019)

Other work

Goebel has written several articles for the

arts and entertainment magazine '' News 4U''.

References

External links

Joey Goebel's Homepage

Interview with Joey Goebel on TastesLikeChicken

Interview with Joey Goebel on PopMatters

John Hood's Bully Magazine review of Torture the Artist {{DEFAULTSORT:Goebel, Joey 1980 births 21st-century American novelists American male novelists American punk rock guitarists American punk rock singers Living people Rock musicians from Kentucky Spalding University alumni Novelists from Kentucky Singers from Kentucky Songwriters from Kentucky Guitarists from Kentucky American male guitarists 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American male singers 21st-century American singers 21st-century American guitarists American male songwriters