Big Time

January 18, 2021
Former Late Show with Stephen Colbert writer Spyra debuts with a raunchy, uneven satirical collection. The author’s shtick is to mash up historical eras and cultural reference points, but generally things land with a thud. It works, though, in the title story, where Ruby Russell, orphaned at seven, makes it to 1940s Hollywood and the big time. Passing up the lead in Casablanca, Ruby takes another role instead, and during filming, time travels to the 21st century and wins a spot on The Bachelor, where she reveals an anachronistic screw-your-way-to-the-top mentality. Elsewhere, there is talk of probiotics and volumizing shampoo among cave women in “The First Influencer,” and a girl meets Sherlock Holmes and Watson on a dating app in “The Adventure of the Mistaken Right Swipe.” In “My Dearest Caroline,” a soldier writes to his wife during the Civil War, confessing and retracting incestuous sexual peccadilloes after each brush with death (“This might sound random,” he writes, “but if you haven’t opened my last letter yet, don’t even bother”). In “Bridal Bodies,” women wishing to shed a few pounds before their weddings are purloined by fascistic trainers. Some of these premises feel phoned in, but Spyra’s command of the language is indisputable. The author’s TV writing and New Yorker columns are funny, but here the laughs are few and far between. Agent: Daniel Greenebrg, Levine Greenberg Rostan Literary.

February 15, 2021
Spyra, an improv comedy performer and former writer for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, displays her audacious comedic prowess in this spicy and woke debut story collection that delivers the perfect blend of stinging satire and salacious mirth. In "Bridal Body," a bride-to-be takes her fitness commitment to a deathly level. In "Dinner at Eight," political correctness distracts the narrators from a murder-mystery dinner. In "The Adventure of the Mistaken Right Swipe," Spyra imagines the drawbacks if a woman were to right swipe with the likes of Sherlock Holmes. The wildly differing affections of a mother towards her firstborn and second-born are played out in "First Kid, Second Kid." In "The Boyfriend Identity," a ridiculously high bar for being boyfriend material is brought to light in suspenseful fashion. The longest story, "Big Time," explores Hollywood in the aftermath of the #MeToo movement via a time-traveling 1940s starlet. In each of these 14 stories, Spyra draws out the humanity of the characters who are blissfully unaware that they are wading through a depressing and cruel reality topped with a layer of wokeism in tales that are ebullient, memorable, and oh so entertaining.

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March 15, 2021
Fourteen satirical stories plumb the absurdities of modern life. Spyra, formerly a staff writer for The Late Show With Stephen Colbert and The Onion, gets most of her comic mileage from anachronism. She finds "influencers" among cavemen, explores dating apps with Holmes and Watson, imagines the battlefield letters of a polyamorous dopehead Civil War soldier. In her hilarious retelling of One Thousand and One Nights, she imagines the perspective of the vizier in the court of a cuckolded sultan in a murderous rage. After failing to soothe his boss with suggestions of "couples' counseling and a seaside getaway" or to convince him that "sex with virgins was usually below average and more than you bargained for emotionally," the vizier ends up managing a growing cache of rotting virgin heads on spikes. "He couldn't help but sigh and think, 'I majored in comparative literature at the University of Damascus.' " If a few of her high-concept premises are too over-the-top or puerile for some readers ("Birthday Girl," "Monster Goo," meh), the title story is the hit that redeems the misses. In "Big Time," a tough-talking 1940s starlet named Ruby is rocketed into the present, where she learns about sex positivity, co-working collectives, edibles, and The Real Housewives of Orange County. Only on Bravo does she find the kind of entertainment she is used to: "rich women screaming at each other in evening clothes, conniving, sexy waitresses, million-dollar homes, and plenty of well-dressed gays to make snide remarks and keep it interesting." When a video of her misadventures with a malfunctioning port-a-potty goes viral, Ruby signs with ICM and becomes a contestant on the 89th season of The Bachelor, vying against Kayleigh B., Kaylee C., K-Li W., Kaelie T., etc., "most of the Kayleighs...dental hygienists from Tampa." When her plan to game the system backfires, Ruby finally learns some important lessons about friendship. And it's actually kind of sweet. Abandon political correctness, all ye who enter here, and rejoice.

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