Fair warning: there is a lot of talk about butts in Lynn Waddell’s new book, Fringe Florida: Travels among Mud Boggers, Furries, Ufoologists, Nudists, and Other Lovers of Unconventional Lifestyles. That means a lot of exposed flesh around back: thongs, no-thongs, dancing cheeks, cigarette butts, Ghettobutt, Butt Naked Biker Bash, and even a guy named Butts—adult filmmaker Seymour Butts. Maybe you’ve seen his SRO classic, Tampa Tushy Fest Part 1? LYNN WADDELL podcast excerpt: "My husband had reservations about being portrayed in the book. I had worked on the movie 'Showgirls'; as a journalist, you put yourself in a lot of different environments. But when it came time to go to Swingfest in Miami, my husband said, 'I'm not going to let you go there by yourself--you're going to be like meat among the lions.' I was really glad he was there when they told me there were only five single women there. They call them 'unicorns' because they're highly desirable." In Fringe Florida, Waddell goes beyond the weird, bizarre daily headlines that mark life in Florida and finds a way to make people here seem even stranger—both in practice and by simple association. After all, if you accept your neighbor and revel your friends in stories of the stripper, furry, carnie, swinger, biker, etc., next door, you’re essentially an enabler, right? Reading Waddell’s book – her first, incidentally, and hopefully not her last – one can’t avoid being struck by just how good the writing is. While it’s easy to enjoy the people and the lifestyles chronicled, it’s the prose style that makes Fringe Florida a winner. By the way, if you’re in St. Petersburg, Florida, this Saturday, October 5, you’re invited to attend the Fringe Florida launch party at Beak’s St. Pete, 2451 Central Avenue at 6 p.m. Waddell will also be a guest at the Tampa Bay Times Festival of Reading at the University of South Florida-St. Pete campus on Saturday, October 26. Both events are free to the public. (She’ll also be at the Miami Book Fair in late November.) Fringe Florida • • • Lynn Waddell • •