Dmitriy Kogan | Scotty Plays Guitar | serious-lit | August 2026 | 33 pages
The debut chapbook from Dmitriy Kogan, Scotty Play Guitar, is what I would call sneakily good. Its prose is consistently unadorned and matter-of-fact, its protagonist is something of a misogynist-lite dipshit failson, living with his parents in his thirties while he evades work in pursuit of being a successful musician. He used to be in a metal band with his notably more misogynistic friend, but he’s really more of an Elliott Smith guy, to be honest. By the end of Scotty Plays Guitar‘s brisk 33 pages broken up into nine bite-sized parts, Scotty grows. But only a little. And that’s a really big reason as to why it works.
One of the other reasons why it works is that even though Scotty – who is established as a virgin and basically an incel – sucks, he’s not irredeemable. When I say Scotty Plays Guitar is sneaky, there’s an on-the-surface slightly tasteless joke right at the end of the first part, when Scotty plays an open mic at a Hoboken venue called Cobart’s Den.
Whenever I get lonely
Whenever I get lonely
I think about my life
I think about my life
I think
Do I want to live in this world, BAAAABBY?
“Is this guy autistic?” a girl in the crowd asked.
Yes, this is framed as a deadpan punchline (Kogan has history as a stand-up comedian), but I can’t help but read Scotty Plays Guitar as an earnest document of a neurodivergent individual who, surrounded by the unsupportive and cynical attitudes of the people around him, lacks a core sense of self and defaults to mirroring the behaviors and opinions of the devil on his shoulder.
Said devil is Alex. Alex is a loud, dumb pig who’s obsessed with getting laid while simultaneously shaming any woman who would kind of be a necessary partner in achieving that goal. To that end, Scotty ends up meeting a girl named Marcy, who becomes Scotty’s main love interest throughout the story. Marcy, of course, coincidentally, used to date Alex.
“I dated a drummer in a heavy metal band.”
“Was his name Alex?”
“Yeah.”
“He was in my band.”
“No way.”
I love this. Let me explain. On its face, this is just an absolutely massive plot contrivance. But that’s the joke. Kogan has a strange sense of humor that will likely be divisive for some, but there’s a saying about needing to be really smart to write something really stupid (that’s also really smart). The smart part is delayed: Alex isn’t fully established yet, but once his role as “horny shithead metal drummer from Hoboken who fucks everyone” is set and we spend more time with Scotty, the “plot contrivance” begins to make sense. Sneaky.
Above all, Scotty Plays Guitar is a comedy. Its narrative is small in scale with no major twists or turns, and while I enjoy the story it tells, your milage will depend almost entirely on whether you can “lock in” to Kogan’s offbeat absurdism.
There was a romantic sunset in the distance. Scotty took off his Nikes and positioned his ass on the blanket.
“Alex told me you’re a slut.”
Scotty went home and opened Reddit on his laptop.
scotty2hottyplayingguitar
Dear friends,
I think it’s true what all you have said about women. They are clearly no good.
Clever, disarming brainrot. While I’d hesitate to compare Scotty Plays Guitar to Sophie Kemp’s Paradise Logic as a complete work, the humor feels reminiscent. If you can laugh at bits like those, or Scotty fixating on his honey jars, or a blowjob being mentioned and brushed over like it’s as stimulating as an email job, you’ll have a good time with this one. If not, there is an emotional component here, but it’s not the star of the show. That said, I’d be remiss to not mention my favorite line of this entire story.
“Yeah, I got my first blowjob from Vanessa.”
“Scotty, why would you tell me that?”
“Because I wanted you to know how much of an idiot I am.”
You’ve probably heard some version of that last line somewhere before, but there’s such a wonderful weight to it in this story because of how Scotty is established. He’s stunted, not particularly good at expressing himself in his music or in real life, and up until this point, there’s no outward indication that his music dreams are rooted in anything beyond a need for broad external validation. But here, he is not concerned with validation. He has simply met someone he actually likes, and he wants her to see him as he actually is. I think everyone has met someone who they don’t want to let down, someone they want to hide the worst parts of themselves from. That’s admiration. The moment where that shifts to “I need you to understand me, even when I’m stupid, or weak, or ugly” is love. I hung on this for a while, and I think this exchange, for me, is what elevates Scotty Plays Guitar from “good for a few laughs” to good without caveats.
Travis Shosa is a writer from Spring, TX. They are the EIC and managing editor of Dodo Eraser. Their creative writing is featured in Stanchion, Maudlin House, HAD, Bending Genres, The Bulb Region, HAWKEYE, Some Words and lots of other cool places. They have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. Their journalism has been featured in Pitchfork, Bandcamp Daily, The Line of Best Fit, PAPER, and others.
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