Bodaciously True & Totally Awesome: Episode I, Bad Boy

Coming-of-age and teen romance collide in a bodacious and authentic journey through the 1980s...

In February 1986, once-invisible sophomore Avery "Ace" Craig suddenly becomes the most magnetic guy at Hancock High. Armed with a Walkman and mixtapes packed with everything from A-Ha to ZZ Top, Avery charges toward manhood with confidence, charisma, and a genius IQ-but has no clue how to handle what's next.

During a school trip to D.C., Avery shakes hands with President Reagan, gets a glimpse of his future, and has a sexual awakening, setting off a chain reaction. Girls notice him, his hormones detonate, and his friends are clueless. With no adults to turn to, Ace must navigate the thrilling, terrifying terrain alone-with only a Boy Scout Handbook, his instincts, and a Princess Leia poster to guide him.

Bodaciously True & Totally Awesome, Episode I: Bad Boy, the product of ten years' relentless craftsmanship, takes an immersive, sensual and unflinching look at teen experience and relationships.

A saga about the freedom, romance, and epic adventure of suburban life in Cold War America, Bodaciously is for readers seeking a time machine back to the last great American decade.

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Episode I: Bad Boy launches an epic 9-book episodic novel, with new episodes every 12 weeks:

• True Blue - 4/2026
• Danger Zone - 7/2026
• Secret Lovers - 10/2026
• Yankee Rose - 12/2026
• Invisible Touch - 3/2027
• Modern Woman - 5/2027
• True Colors - 9/2027
• Big Time - 11/2027

Author: Chris Orcutt
Publisher: Have Pen, Will Travel
Published: 01/20/2026
Pages: 386
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.13lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.86d
ISBN: 9781965999011


Review Citation(s):
Booklist 02/01/2026
Kirkus Reviews 01/01/0001
BlueInk Review 08/26/2025

About the Author
Orcutt, Chris: - Chris Orcutt is an American novelist and fiction writer with over thirty years of writing experience and 20 books in his oeuvre, including his latest-a 9-book episodic novel about teens in the 1980s, Bodaciously True & Totally Awesome. The first book of Bodaciously-Episode I: Bad Boy-will be published on January 20, 2026.

Born in Maine, he has spent most of his life in New York. He attended college in Boston, graduating summa cum laude with a degree in philosophy. His professional writing career began at the Taconic Newspapers (where he was honored by the New York Press Association), followed by freelance reporting for the Poughkeepsie Journal, New York's oldest newspaper. In his 20s and early 30s, while honing his craft as a fiction writer, Orcutt earned a living as a high school American Studies teacher, college writing instructor, and speechwriter. His earlier fiction-including the Dakota Stevens Mystery Series and One Hundred Miles from Manhattan-has earned praise from Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews.

For over a decade, Orcutt immersed himself in '80s teen culture and shunned the internet in monastic devotion to his magnum opus. Writing drafts on typewriters and vintage computers, blasting everything from A-Ha to ZZ Top, and drinking enough coffee to fill a swimming pool (seriously), he set out to craft an authentic and fearless exploration of the suburban teenage experience in 1980s America. The result prompted one cultural historian to dub him "Lord of the '80s" and another "The American Tolstoy."

He loathes bad writing, stoplights, Grammarly, and pretentious people-but loves old movies, Peanuts comics, Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, and cross-country skiing. Orcutt lives quietly in New York's Hudson Valley with his wife and Muse, Alexas, and their dog Dashiell Hammett. For more about Chris and Bodaciously, visit Orcutt.net.

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