Droozle

What if your pet could write better than you, and then decided to get literary? That's the deliciously absurd premise at the heart of this 1960s novella. Jean Lanni is a struggling artist who shares his apartment with Droozle: a twelve-inch pen-shaped snake with an uncanny talent for prose. When Droozle starts cranking out bestselling snake memoirs, Jean's financial prayers seem answered. But then the snake gets ambitions. Big ones. Classic ones. Suddenly Jean's living expenses skyrocket while his girlfriend Judy starts wondering about his sanity. Frank Banta plays this premise with genuine warmth beneath the absurdity. The real tension isn't whether Droozle will write the great American novel, it's whether Jean can accept that his strange companion might have creative visions that don't include him. The negotiation scene between man and snake is genuinely funny, but there's a sweet undercurrent: what does it mean to collaborate with something whose art you don't fully control? Perfect for readers who enjoy whimsical fantasy, animal companions with attitude, or simply want something strange and satisfying in an afternoon.