Budding Prospects

Budding Prospects is a 1984 novel by T. C. Boyle about a loser who plans to get rich by illegally growing marijuana. Template:Spoliers Felix Nasmyth, the first person narrator, is a young man who, as he tells readers right at the beginning of the book, has "always been a quitter". Without any hopes for the future, he is persuaded by one of his few friends to take part in a "summer camp"—a secluded rural area somewhere in California where that friend plans to grow marijuana on a large scale.

The illegal business venture seems doomed from the start, but the small group of friends do not show enough discipline and also have too little experience in farming or bookkeeping to notice that. On top of it all, a local police officer suspects foul business. In the end, the "summer camp" has to close down without any profit.

Nasmyth, however, has made the acquaintance of a lovely girl and has fallen in love with her. So he ends his narrative saying that in the near future he may—again, but this time differently—"plant a little seed".