"Ben" or An Incomplete Biography (Vanguard Editions, 2017)

from the Introduction:

In the August of 1963, I received a telephone call from the estate of Ben Affleck – the American actor, director and philanthropist – inviting me to become his official biographer. Reluctantly – after being illegally detained and tortured over a course of weeks – I agreed.

Over the following months and years, I would come to know Ben in a way that many do not. We were, in a sense, collaborators. I would come to know his most intimate secrets, desires and fears. We trod the streets of Boston, its grey-blue buildings lowering between a sea of industrial yards and the limp, motionless arms of cranes. We drank in the bars of the finest hotels of Cannes, Dubai and Paris. For many years, I gathered the materials that would, eventually, become the biography of a man known to me – as well as to everybody else – as Ben.

'What the fuck is this? It’s funny. I think it says something about the tragicomedy of American culture but what do I know I’m American. And I live in Los Angeles. I once saw Ben at my supermarket.' — Dan O'Brien, author of Scarsdale.

Owen Vince is a writer and media artist. His performed work includes the sound and voice installation 404 recurring (Horse Hospital, London) and 'IDTTFWBTW', a generated, digital landscape. His books have been published by Fathom (US) and Salo Press (UK). He tweets @abrightfar