JAMES WADE
FLOD, SYG UD ​
Langlistet til Reading the West Book Award for Fiction
Et Barnes & Noble udvalg af foretrukne indie-e-bøger fra 2021
Et Deep South Magazine-valg til sommerlæsning
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I et forsøg på at undslippe sin voldelige far og generationer af cyklisk fattigdom slutter den unge Jonah Hargrove sig til den mystiske flod – en teenagepige, der bærer tusindvis af dollars i stjålet meth – og begiver sig ud på en sydlig gotisk odyssé gennem East Texas-flodens bund.
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De forfølges af den lokale narkokonge, John Curtis, og hans morderiske håndhæver, Dakota Cade, som River var romantisk involveret med. Men Cade og Curtis har deres egne fjender, da deres forhold til kartellet, der kontrollerer deres meth-forsyning, begynder at blive sur.
Holder øje med alle er The Thin Man, en tavs lejemorder, der værdsætter konsekvens frem for barmhjertighed.
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Hver person holder hemmeligheder for de andre -- dødbringende hemmeligheder, der vil blive afsløret på vild måde, når deres sidste veje støder sammen, og alle er tvunget til at komme overens med deres valg, deres omstændigheder og deres egen definition af Gud.
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Med en farverig birolle af bifigurer og en urokkelig vold sat sammen med lyrisk prosa, dykker River, Sing Out dybt ned i en uhyggelig og sangvinarisk verden, hvor undertrykkende fattigdom stilles op mod behovet for at tro på noget, der er større end selvet.
"Beasts of the Earth is a leanly structured western, stripping the genre only to its most basic elements. This allows Wade’s prose and philosophical ideas room to shine...a powerful ode to dreaming, beauty and human goodness."
-- Deep South Magazine
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"Wade returns with another stark and chilling tale...From reptiles in the swamp hunting prey, to reptilian men, cold and calculating, beasts feature in this disturbing novel...The prose is beautiful."
-- Library Journal
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"Wade's pitch-perfect, personality-driven dialogue sings in the voice of life, and his ability to meld existential thought, situational metaphor, and cinematic setting is a full-bodied experience...A soul-deep exploration of a wounded man in crisis, James Wade's Beasts of the Earth...secures his position as an author of extraordinary merit."
-- New York Journal of Books
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"...contemplative character development and evocative descriptions of the landscape..."
-- Publishers Weekly
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"The story brilliantly weaves together an ephemeral whodunnit with a transcendental puzzle about god and death. James Wade is a master of blending plots in this manner, and this his third novel is a masterpiece. Wade's prose is lyrical, telling a story with a three part harmony of action, metaphor and imagery. The novel's plot is a haunting ballad of evil and an atonement that is as fleeting as it is obscure...All of Wade's language in Beasts of the Earth is melodious, playing on each page a song that grips a reader's heart and soul...The anticipation makes it impossible to stop turning pages until the end. But there is no "needlessly shocking" conclusion, as one misguided reviewer suggests. For the novel's appropriate closing, the story's music just fades away, leaving it to the reader to decide, in true literary form, the reckoning. Few modern novelists have Wade's literary agility, and Beasts of the Earth will certainly delight sophisticated readers."
-- Midwest Book Review
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"All Things Left Wild was one of my favorite novels of the last two years, as was River, Sing Out. But neither of those novels could have prepared me for the dark and compelling vision of Beasts of the Earth. I found myself rooting for the characters throughout their near-Biblical tribulations, and the storyline kept me turning the pages, desperate to find out what would happen next. Here we have a novel that blends realism with existentialist philosophy to redefine contemporary Southern fiction. Don't miss this tour de force of modern literature."
-- David Heska Wanbli Weiden, Spur and Anthony Award-winning author of Winter Counts
"Like Flannery O'Connor, James Wade explores what it means to be human--our capacity for good rivaled only by our capacity for evil, our weakness alongside our urge for redemption and grace--with gloriously complex characters and gorgeous prose. Beasts of the Earth is a beautiful gut-punch of a novel."
-- Stacey Swann, author of Olympus, Texas
"James Wade is a writer of exceptional talent and this novel is his latest entry toward his path to greatness."
-- Scott Semegran, award-winning author of The Benevolent Lords of Sometimes Island and host of Austin Liti Limits
"James Wade writes a terrific story, but that isn't what makes him so good. Wade is a craftsman. His books should be read slowly, to luxuriate in his word choices, his sentence structure, his character revelation. That is why he is a joy to read."
-- James L. Haley, Spur Award-winning author of the Bliven Putnam Naval Adventures
"James Wade's Beasts of the Earth delivers on the promise of his first two novels with this scorched-earth tale of a solitary innocent struggling against the unrelenting misery of a rural community in the American South who believe him to be a degenerate criminal. Reminiscent of early McCarthy, Larry Brown, or the great Tom Franklin, Wade uses two timelines to weave this intricate story that culminates in a most satisfying crescendo of honor, violence, and the only kind of justice some folks ever get. It's his depictions of noble suffering that strike deepest--I'll be thinking about young Michael Fischer, a boy struggling to hold together that last fragments of his humanity, for a long time. James Wade has all the tools, imagination, and more than enough passion to be at the vanguard of the best Grit-Lit writers of his generation, and I'll be reading whatever he puts out."
-- Matt Bondurant, bestselling author of Oleander City and Lawless
FLOD, SYG UD ​
Langlistet til Reading the West Book Award for Fiction
Et Barnes & Noble udvalg af foretrukne indie-e-bøger fra 2021
Et Deep South Magazine-valg til sommerlæsning
​
​
I et forsøg på at undslippe sin voldelige far og generationer af cyklisk fattigdom slutter den unge Jonah Hargrove sig til den mystiske flod – en teenagepige, der bærer tusindvis af dollars i stjålet meth – og begiver sig ud på en sydlig gotisk odyssé gennem East Texas-flodens bund.
​
De forfølges af den lokale narkokonge, John Curtis, og hans morderiske håndhæver, Dakota Cade, som River var romantisk involveret med. Men Cade og Curtis har deres egne fjender, da deres forhold til kartellet, der kontrollerer deres meth-forsyning, begynder at blive sur.
Holder øje med alle er The Thin Man, en tavs lejemorder, der værdsætter konsekvens frem for barmhjertighed.
​
Hver person holder hemmeligheder for de andre -- dødbringende hemmeligheder, der vil blive afsløret på vild måde, når deres sidste veje støder sammen, og alle er tvunget til at komme overens med deres valg, deres omstændigheder og deres egen definition af Gud.
​
Med en farverig birolle af bifigurer og en urokkelig vold sat sammen med lyrisk prosa, dykker River, Sing Out dybt ned i en uhyggelig og sangvinarisk verden, hvor undertrykkende fattigdom stilles op mod behovet for at tro på noget, der er større end selvet.
ALLE TING FORBLIVES VILDE
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Vinder af 2021 Spur Award fra Western Writers of America for bedste historiske roman
Vinder af 2021 Reading the West Award for bedste debutfiktion
En borgmesterbogklub i Austin, Texas, udvalg
Et Barnes & Noble udvalg af bedste indie-e-bøger i 2020
Et PopSugar-udvalg af overbevisende historiske fiktionsbøger
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Efter et forkludret røveri er 16-årige Caleb Bentley på flugt med sin ondsindede storebror på tværs af det amerikanske sydvest ved begyndelsen af det 20. århundrede. Calebs moralske kompas og indre mod vil blive sat på prøve, når de rejser i det barske terræn og møder dem, der har skåret et liv der, på godt og ondt.
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Den velhavende og boglige Randall Dawson, malplaceret i dette barske og voldelige land, jagter modvilligt efter Bentley-brødrene. Med lidt forstand på, hvordan man overlever, og endnu mindre, hvordan man tager hævn, møder Randall Charlotte, en kvinde, der har erfaring med de dødelige livsstile i Vesten. Sammen navigerer de gennem vigilante-retfærdighedens dunkle værdier.
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Kraftfuld og atmosfærisk, ALL THINGS LEFT WILD er en voksende alder for den ene mand, en odyssé midt i livet for den anden og en illustration af den vold og korruption, der er udbredt i vores hurtigt voksende land. Den skitserer kunstfærdigt det amerikanske vests storhed som afspejlet i den menneskelige sjæl.