Praise for Day After the Waste Land

Lawrence, Kansas, worthy of the final days of Williams S. Burroughs, is a strange,
singular, and wonderful place—haunted by history and hoops. In KU WASTELAND, Will
Averill delivers on the impossible: an ode to Lawrence that is so masterfully  observed,
hilariously sharp, profanely loving, and devastatingly lyrical, you will come to know it to
its complicated and contradictory soul within the space of fifteen pages.

A pitch-perfect tribute to Andy Morton, and a skeleton key to Lawrence townie
references overheard at the Jet Lag. Profane, but undeniably good-hearted...and full of
love (and fond exasperation) for both Eliot and Lawrence (censored) Kansas.

"Will Averill's beloved hometown of Lawrence, Kansas sets the stage for his re-imagining of T.S. Eliot's poem, riffing on the poet's themes of disillusionment and cultural fragmentation with acerbic wit, obscure histories, and unflinching reflections on the city's past and present. Paired with Kent Smith's lively color and black-and-white on-location sketches, the book is a total paradox - part love letter, part fever dream- infused with the sour-sweet stink of a barroom hangover. A must-have for any pop culture connoiseur of this iconic college town. 

Nothing haunts a townie like bars and restaurants gone and remembered, friends loved
and lost, old history turned to ceremony—and Averill’s poem is beautifully haunted,
even as it’s laugh-out-loud funny.

It is also incisive about Lawrence’s contradictions and looks at the many different layers
of time and history shading our city, examining—with love—the good and bad that make
this such a singular place to live. Kent Smith’s drawings elevate the whole operation
greatly, adding so much texture and detail to a work already vivid.

At once a haunting pilgrimage through capricious memory and detached nostalgia,
and a meticulous lens on the stark beauty of quotidian life.