Boulder News

Hometown Drunk Makes Good

Denver Author Joins “Fratire” Pack with Modern Drunkard Book

By Jenny Shank, 4-20-06

A recent New York Times feature detailed the rise of "fratire" ("Dude, Here's My Book") and included one Denver author, Frank Kelly Rich, among the notables of this rising genre. Just what is fratire? Times journalist Warren St. John offered this explanation:

"With titles like 'Real Ultimate Power,' a satirical ode to the masculine prowess of ninjas; 'The Modern Drunkard,' a paean to getting hammered; and 'The Game,' a manual for manipulating and bedding women, they collectively represent the once-elusive male counterpart to so-called chick lit, and so perhaps deserve a cheesy epithet of their own. How about: fratire."

Frank Kelly Rich is the founder and publisher of the Denver-based magazine Modern Drunkard, which celebrates all aspects of the drinking life. According to an earlier Times article, Rich moved to Denver because he said, "I thought it was a great drinking town." Recent features have included "The Art Of The Shot: The Five Essential Steps of the Venerable Bonding Ritual" and "Ladies Thirst: A salute to history's greatest (and garrulous) female drunks." And there are ongoing columns such as "Booze Reviews," "Gin-Soaked Fiction," and "Drunkard of the Month."

Last year Rich published the magazine's first companion book, The Modern Drunkard, though according to his bio on amazon.com, he's not new to the book publishing game: "He is also the author of four booze-noir action-adventure novels (Jack Strait, Bogeyman series, Gold Eagle Books) and the writer and director of the booze noir film Nixing the Twist."

According to the Times, "Frank Kelly Rich, the 42-year-old editor of Modern Drunkard magazine and the author of the book 'The Modern Drunkard,' said that it took the Web to help fratire get around the hang-ups of mainstream publishing houses that professed to be searching for the male equivalent of chick lit, but which were frightened when they actually saw what it looked like. 'The publishing houses filtered out anything politically incorrect or offensive,' he said. 'It took the Internet to show them what was popular and now they're going after it. Before that, they would just guess.'"

In recent years, Rich's empire has expanded to include an annual Modern Drunkard convention, hosting the first one in 2004 in Las Vegas (where Rich, appropriately, grew up) and then bringing it to Denver last year. This year's convention returns to Vegas from June 23-25.

Rich has been profiled in many publications, and his publishing endeavors appear to be going strong. Which goes to show that with enough passion and dedication, just about any interest can be turned into a career.

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