Author(s): Liam Pieper

Fiction

A wild romp through Australian celebrity culture that's as bold and scathing as it is hilarious. 

Everything in this world has a price. A great work of art is no exception. And what fortune was ever built without a little subterfuge? 

Oli Darling is a queer artist from the country - it says so right at the top of every press release. His art has brought him fame, money, fashionable substance abuse issues and only a little imposter syndrome. But then he goes on live TV and says the one thing that can get a rich white guy cancelled. 

With his reputation in tatters, nobody is buying Oli's schtick or his art. That's a problem for all the people who've invested millions in him. Powerful, dangerous people. To save his own skin, Oli will need to restore his public image. 

Together with a ghostwriter, he must do the most undignified thing imaginable- he will have to write a memoir. So begins a journey through the underbelly of modern celebrity that sees Oli confront the consequences of his own ruthless mythmaking - lies he's told others, lies he's told himself. 

Perhaps he was right to feel like an imposter. And maybe the only way out is to take a good hard look at himself. Outrageous satire of the highest order. 

Appreciation sets its sights on the question of authenticity in a time where image trumps talent, narcissism rules, and no canvas is so tarnished it can't be painted over.