Down on his luck and still pining for his ex-wife, South Carolina
taxidermist Romie Futch spends his evenings drunkenly surfing the
Internet before passing out on his couch. In a last-ditch attempt to pay
his mortgage, he replies to an ad and becomes a research subject in an
experiment conducted by the Center for Cybernetic Neuroscience in
Atlanta, Georgia. After "scientists" download hifalutin humanities
disciplines into their brains, Romie and his fellow guinea pigs start
debating the works of Foucault and hashing out the intricacies of
postmodern subjectivity. The enhanced taxidermist, who once aspired to
be an artist, returns to his hometown ready to revolutionize his work
and revive his failed marriage. As Romie tracks down specimens for his
elaborate animatronic taxidermy dioramas, he develops an Ahab-caliber
obsession with bagging "Hogzilla," a thousand-pound feral hog that has
been terrorizing Hampton County. Cruising hog-hunting websites, he
learns that this lab-spawned monster possesses peculiar traits. Pulled
into an absurd and murky underworld of biotech operatives, FDA agents,
and environmental activists, Romie becomes entangled in the enigma of
Hogzilla's origins.
Exploring the interplay between nature and culture, biology and
technology, reality and art, The New and Improved Romie Futch probes the
mysteries of memory and consciousness, offering a darkly comic yet
heartfelt take on the contemporary human predicament.
