The Art & Craft of the Short Story explores every key element of short fiction, including story structure and form; creative and believable characters; how to begin and where to end; and the generation of ideas; as well as technical aspects such as point of view; plot; description and imagery; and theme. Examples from the work of a wide variety are used. The author includes five of his own stories to demonstrate these topics.
Borrowed Hearts traces the development of Rick DeMarinis's incantatory voice, including newer work as well as stories selected from his three previous, highly acclaimed collections: Under Wheat (1986), the winner of the Drue Heinz Literature Prize for short fiction; The Coming of the Free World, a New York Times Notable Book (1988); and The Voice of America (1991). The title story was included in 1991's The Best Stories of the South, and "Your Story" was played on National Public Radio's Selected Shorts.
Gus Reppo's parents have everything figured out for their son, right down to the county where they hope he'll practice dentistry. And when they follow him to the air force base where he enlists—who else will make sure he's served adequate meals?—he realizes it’s not going to be easy shaking off his kin, or their Mantovani obsession. After his mother introduces the possibility that his parents are not who they seem, Gus’s life takes a turn for the weird, in this latest hilarious novel from American original DeMarinis.
A study of political manners and debauchery masquerading as pulp fiction, DeMarinis shows us a world inhabited by the likes of Luther Penrose, a 290-pound, drug-dependent novelist with marital fidelity problems, and Luther's old army buddy, J.P. Morgan, an insurance fraud investigator who has reluctantly agreed to lend his friend a hand. Given the tumultuous, bloody, and unpredictable events that follow, it's a decision that Morgan will come to ruefully regret."--Amazon.com.
Despite the world’s insecurities, the most common drama of all is not of apocalypse now, but of apocalypse deferred; the pain of living is having to wait it out. In Apocalypse Then, DeMarinis’s characters try alcohol, they try travel, and (most of all) they try off-limits love. They find themselves in harm’s way, or put themselves there—but in life, as the title story states, "sometimes the worst doesn’t happen.
Ozzie Santee, an eighteen-year-old high school graduate in 1953 California, falls in love with Colleen Vogel, daughter of San Diego's most successful undertaker
Now in paperback, The Year of the Zinc Penny is a contemporary classic. Trygve Soren Napoli is a ten-year-old just beginning to realize that he is alone in the world. Certain inescapable quirks tip him off: He cannot stop himself from repeating aloud each of his sentences, even after his stepfather tapes his mouth shut. Strange black hairs grow from the back of his hand. He has a weird name, unlike the other kids in Los Angeles, his new home. Even the cousin he looks up to calls him crazy. He doesn’t have a father, but then the country is in the middle of the biggest war ever, and a lot of kids are missing dads. His uncle drinks, and Trygve sees him hit Aunt Ginger, but then it was his uncle who gave him the roll of zinc pennies—and Uncle Gerald is the one who somehow manages to lay hand on the valuable copper wire needed to build an antenna for Trygve’s shortwave radio, the boy’s one sure link to the external world. The Year of the Zinc Penny is a masterful rendering of a young consciousness. From his war-hero daydreams, to his obsession with Bela Lugosi’s Dracula, to his first encounters with sex and violence, to his disgust and fear at the depravity of the hodgepodge adults in his life,Trygve’s search for meaning is one of contemporary literature’s most compelling.
Without ever resorting to easy nostalgia or cheap sentimentality, Mr. DeMarinis gives us both a picture of the eternal realities of childhood-the humiliations of playground gamesmanship, the cruelties of puppy love-and a tactile portrait of life in the wartime '40's."-"The New York Times" Now in paperback, "The Year of the Zinc Penny" is a contemporary classic. Trygve Soren Napoli is a 10-year-old just beginning to realize that he is alone in the world. He must replace missing life pieces with what material is at hand; from his war-hero daydreams, to his obsession with Bela Lugosi's Dracula, to his first encounters with sex and violence, to his disgust and fear at the depravity of the hodgepodge adults in his life, Trygve's search for meaning is one of literature's most compelling.
Arjay Ponce is a typical suburban husband whose comfortable southern California life has suddenly gone awry. Just when Dynablast, the aerospace plant he works for, is about to land Project Scimitar--Arjay fails to get the promotion he's been in line for. To soothe his wounded ego, he dallies with a voluptuous neighbor, Lisa Dennison. Then Lisa is strangled, and all signs point to Arjay as the killer. In the quest for the real murderer, Arjay keeps coming back to the mystery-enshrouded Scimitar and the people involved with it, especially to the enigmatic Skylor Blue, the ultimate technocrat, a man whose body has become an anachronism to him. And only our unlikely hero Arjay stands between Blue and the achievement of his dream: eternal life.
Despite the world’s insecurities, the most common drama of all is not of apocalypse now, but of apocalypse deferred; the pain of living is having to wait it out. In Apocalypse Then, DeMarinis’s characters try alcohol, they try travel, and (most of all) they try off-limits love. They find themselves in harm’s way, or put themselves there—but in life, as the title story states, "sometimes the worst doesn’t happen.
Borrowed Hearts traces the development of Rick DeMarinis's incantatory voice, including newer work as well as stories selected from his three previous, highly acclaimed collections: Under Wheat (1986), the winner of the Drue Heinz Literature Prize for short fiction; The Coming of the Free World, a New York Times Notable Book (1988); and The Voice of America (1991). The title story was included in 1991's The Best Stories of the South, and "Your Story" was played on National Public Radio's Selected Shorts.
The Art & Craft of the Short Story explores every key element of short fiction, including story structure and form; creative and believable characters; how to begin and where to end; and the generation of ideas; as well as technical aspects such as point of view; plot; description and imagery; and theme. Examples from the work of a wide variety are used. The author includes five of his own stories to demonstrate these topics.
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