"Smartass is a smart, sweet coming of age story, evocative of a half-forgotten America at the cusp of tectonic national -- and generational -- changes that still deeply resonate. Kelly''s narrative and dialogue both crackle and continue to entice with each new work!" -- Rory O''Connor, author of Nukespeak: The Selling of Nuclear Technology and Friends, Followers and the Future: How Social Media are Changing Politics, Threatening Big Brands, and Killing Traditional Media

"Brian Kelly''s "Smartass" promises us a wild horse ride in its opening lines and it delivers, but the book itself is more like a time machine that takes us to a vanished time in American life. For people of his generation it will be a bittersweet nostalgic journey and for the young it will reveal a time and place where not only could a black man never become president, he was often forbidden to eat at the same lunch counter as whites. It''s important that the younger generation feels how close all that is in time and "Smartass", among other things, does just that." -- Richard Lourie, author of Sakharov and The Autobiography of Joseph Stalin

"With a black man in the White House, racial politics in America is alive and well. Brian Kelly''s novel, Smartass takes us back to a time when America was just beginning to emerge from its nasty history of bigotry and hate. But more than a nostalgic trip down a not so rosy memory lane, the story is a reminder of how far we''ve come and how far we still have to go. Bravo." -- Richard Stratton, author of Altered States of America