Astroturf
Steroids, Masculinity, Morality
Fiction
Published by Riverrun, Quercus

A brilliantly funny and touching story about masculinity, identity, sock-puppets and steroids from an extremely promising new talent.
Good things can happen when you do bad things.
At 30, Ned is in a rut. His girlfriend has dumped him, his job is boring and he lives in a dismal bedsit. While others around him climb the property ladder and get ahead, he seems destined to remain one of life’s plodders.
Encouraged by a friend to try using steroids to bulk up his frame, Ned is pleased to discover a new vitality within himself. Physical changes are only the beginning: his mental state is clearer, he feels more confident and, most thrillingly of all, friends and lovers alike seem compelled by this new improved Ned.
Using his knowledge of the murky yet surprising online world of steroids, Ned begins to build a business and discovers that his talents can take him further than he ever thought possible. But when his new life is threatened, he finds himself doing things he never would have dared to do before.
And it all seems to be going fine…
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Reviews
“I loved Matthew Sperling’s sly, subversive novel, a wickedly funny tale of how to come out on top in a fake news world”
“Outrageous, sexy and funny. Sperling writes with the caustic economy of Waugh or Spark, but his characters have more heart, including the sock-puppets.”
“A tale about steroids which seems to be on steroids itself: sleek, muscular and just slightly too real.”