'Nuclear Jellyfish' reading humorous, insightful

Author Tim Dorsey sometimes has a little trouble describing Serge A. Storms, the central character of his South Florida comedy novels, to new audiences.

"He's tall, he's wiry, he's taut. He's got little flecks of gray on the sides of his hair. I've got the female audience, so he's got to be handsome," said Dorsey.

Tall, wiry, handsome. Sounds good so far. What could be the problem?

"He's a serial killer that you root for," Dorsey continued, to the shock and laughter of his audience. "But he only goes after the jerks, the scam artists. And because he lives in Florida, he's really busy."

So began an inside look at the life and work of Tim Dorsey, held at the UConn Co-op last Friday. Dorsey is the author of ten novels in the saga of Serge A. Storms, and is currently touring to promote Nuclear Jellyfish, the latest in the series.

Curious new readers and devoted fans both showed up to hear Dorsey talk about his work, his life, and the bizarre, often unbelievable world of South Florida.

"What about Florida is producing these books? Well, spend a week there," said Dorsey. "You couldn't ask for any better locale as a writer. The people, the stories, they actually expand how weird you can get in your books."

Dorsey talked about how his years as a Florida journalist helped inspire him to begin a career in fiction. He began work on his first novel, "Florida Roadkill," while working as the night metro editor at The Tampa Tribune. Listening to the police scanner late into the night, Dorsey would hear tales of hapless criminals that begged to be preserved in more than newspaper stories.

"Oftentimes robbers or criminals, before they're caught, they think they're just the coolest customers," Dorsey said. "One guy took a limo to rob a bank. He was just ripped out of his gourd."

Dorsey's favorite story provided inspiration for the creation of Serge's drunken sidekick Coleman. In the story, a man walked into a bank and slipped a stolen bag of money down the front of his jeans.

"He walked right out, and the dye bag went off. He went down, and he didn't get back up again soon," Dorsey explained. "And that's how Serge met Coleman in a jail cell."

Dorsey's kept up a steady stream of hilarious anecdotes as he answered the audience's questions about his work. He explained that he likes to keep the series fresh by jumping around to a variety of mystery stories.

The Serge series has seen a wide variety of plotsófrom a search for a briefcase full of laundered cocaine money to satire about the corrupt politics of Tallahassee, to historical fiction about unsolved murders in South Beach in the '60s.

Dorsey said reactions to his books have been varied.

"Some say, 'What a talented, creative mind.' Other people say, 'Bad fiction. Too over-the-top, couldn't hang with it.' Then the Florida law enforcement will call and say 'Hey, you wrote another documentary!'"

The crowd enjoyed the insider perspective on Dorsey's work, and lined up to get signed copies of his new novel.

"I came because my whole family reads them," said Kaitlin Helaire, a 5th-year education masters student. ìI actually have to get a bunch of them signed.î

"Reading is definitely a great summer pastime," said Deborah Shippee, a 4th-semester accounting major. "And I recommend these. You'll sit down and read one in a day."

Dorsey's talk not only gave insight into where he finds material for his outrageous plots and hilarious situations, but also how he stumbled on Serge, that handsome, lovable killer.

"People ask, 'Is he like anyone you know?' Well yeah, the guy in the mirror," Dorsey said.

But don't get him wrong, Tim Dorsey isn't about to go out and start shooting bank robbers or chopping up drug dealers.

"I'm probably one of the most even-keeled people you'll ever meet," said Dorsey. "And it's because I have a constructive, cathartic outlet for all this stuff."