The online image for the current issue of If, the Russian science fiction magazine, is here. I have no idea what they mean in their reference to the Old Man's "Russian namesake" (or, as my student from Ukraine termed it, his "counterpart"). What did I stumble into in this story? I suppose I could send a note to the editor and get back to y'all.
Finished Daniel Woodrell's Winter's Bone. Marvelous story, marvelously told; I'd certainly read more by him. I have no idea what was going on with the "Fist of Gods"—apparently some kind of old Ozark-y religion . . . ? I recall from Chris Offutt's short stories a rampant supernaturalism among his "backwoods" folks, but this seemed of a different order and bound up with a mysterious history of displacement and warfare. Aside from those odd elements . . . well, the story still was odd, with families all making meth and mischief. A few times, I thought the protagonist's voice slipped (I could never hear her saying "man" in the way Woodrell wanted me to hear it, for example), but the character was vivid.
4 comments:
Gosh, what a stunning photograph of Lake Michigan.
I had one of my stringers take it.
Before listening to this new BookCave interview, just want to make sure: no spoiler in it ? Listened to the first one, was really nice!
Julien,
I do read from the first page, and I talk about working to find a structure for the story, but aside from that, I don't think I said anything about the story's content. I'm pretty sure--as I realized afterward--no one even commented on the plot. One interviewer brought up a passing comment one character made, but it's not actually important.
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