Two-thirds of Floridians weren’t born here. They come to America’s dangling appendage and shed pantyhose, ties, and crazy relatives in hopes of finding a new self, whoever they thought they couldn’t be in the cloudier place they are from. They wear latex super hero suits; ride sleds pulled behind four-wheelers; have pet snakes longer than their cars; put faith in space aliens; and talk to dead pets through mediums. Nothing seems impossible. It is a collective psychosis.
Journalist Lynn Waddell’s Fringe Florida: Travels Among Mud Boggers, Furries, Ufologists, Nudists, and Other Lovers of Unconventional Lifestyles explores the nature of the Florida dream as she journeys through the state’s exotic and sometimes illicit, worlds.
New York Times best-selling author Tim Dorsey says, “This picaresque slideshow definitely has its ear to the ground for the weird, wacky, and wonderful that is now our peninsula’s chief cash crop…if you seek the Sunshine State’s funky-drumbeat fringe, you can do no better than Lynn Waddell.”
Waddell takes readers everywhere from a Christian theme park to the world’s largest swinger convention. Along the way she weaves in history and touches on the themes of why Florida is a Fringe state.
Released by University Press of Florida in 2013, Fringe Florida can be purchased through this website and can be found in mainstream and independent bookstores around the nation.
The accompanying blog includes Fringe Florida outtakes and other fringe news.
You may contact Lynn through the contact form, Facebook’s Fringe Florida page, and follow her on Twitter @fringeflorida.com.
