The saints of rattlesnake mountain

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Title:

The saints of rattlesnake mountain

Author:

Waters, Don, 1974- author.

Uniform Title:

Short stories. Selections

ISBN:

9781943859290

Physical Description:

206 pages ; 23 cm

Contents:

Saints of rattlesnake mountain -- Last rites -- Espanola -- La luz de Jesus -- Deborah -- Two kinds of temples -- Day of the dead -- Full of days -- Todos santos.

Subject Term:

Short stories, American -- 21st century.

Geographic Term:

Southwestern States -- Fiction.

Genre:

Short stories.

Western stories.

Summary:

With the gothic sensibility of Flannery O'Connor and emotional delicacy of Raymond Carver, these nine contemporary stories deftly explore the lives of characters losing or clinging to a fleeting faith and struggling to find something meaningful to believe in beneath overpowering desert skies. Soldiers, seekers, priests, prisoners, and surfers pursue their fate amid bizarre, sometimes overwhelming circumstances. In "La Luz de Jesús," a gutless Los Angeles screenwriter, a believer in nothing but the god of Hollywood, must reorient after he encounters a group of penitents in New Mexico's Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The decorated soldier in "Española" faces more chaos back home than he did during his tour in Iraq. And "The Saints of Rattlesnake Mountain" pairs a "trustee" prison inmate and a wild mustang horse, both wards of the state of Nevada, as they fumble toward a spiritual truth. These stories capture the spirit of a region and its people. Once again Waters assembles an unconventional cast of characters, capturing their foibles and imperfections, and always rendering them with compassion as these modern-day martyrs and spiritually haunted survivors strive for some kind of redemption. Ingenious, sometimes forbidding, often absurd, and altogether original, The Saints of Rattlesnake Mountain is a stirring tribute to the lives, loves, and hopes of the faithful and the dispossessed.

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Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Stillwater Public Library	FICTION WAT	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

Master storyteller Don Waters returns to the desert in his third book set in the American Southwest. With the gothic sensibility of Flannery O'Connor and emotional delicacy of Raymond Carver, these nine contemporary stories deftly explore the lives of characters losing or clinging to a fleeting faith and struggling to find something meaningful to believe in beneath overpowering desert skies.

Soldiers, seekers, priests, prisoners, and surfers pursue their fate amid bizarre, sometimes overwhelming circumstances. In "La Luz de Jesús," a gutless Los Angeles screenwriter, a believer in nothing but the god of Hollywood, must reorient after he encounters a group of penitents in New Mexico's Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The decorated soldier in "Española" faces more chaos back home than he did during his tour in Iraq. And "The Saints of Rattlesnake Mountain" pairs a "trustee" prison inmate and a wild mustang horse, both wards of the state of Nevada, as they fumble toward a spiritual truth.

These stories capture the spirit of a region and its people. Once again Waters assembles an unconventional cast of characters, capturing their foibles and imperfections, and always rendering them with compassion as these modern-day martyrs and spiritually haunted survivors strive for some kind of redemption.

Ingenious, sometimes forbidding, often absurd, and altogether original, The Saints of Rattlesnake Mountain is a stirring tribute to the lives, loves, and hopes of the faithful and the dispossessed.

Author Notes

Don Waters is the author of Sunland and Desert Gothic , winner of the Iowa Short Fiction Award. His fiction has been widely published and anthologized in the Pushcart Prize , Best of the West , and New Stories from the Southwest . His journalism has appeared in the New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and Outside . Born and raised in Reno, Nevada, he lives in Portland, Oregon.

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Questions of faith and absolution fuel this evocative collection of meticulously crafted stories, all set in the contemporary American Southwest. In the title story, an inmate working on a cattle ranch struggles to resolve the spiritual limitations of his imprisonment with the geographical vastness that surrounds him. Two altar boys try to medicate their way through the godless adult playground of Reno in "Last Rites," while a bodybuilding veteran tracks down a younger sister pawned by his father for drugs in "Espanola." The collection only grows more impressive as it progresses, shrinking its scope while expanding the possibilities of its language. In the brief, excellent "Deborah," for instance, a self-destructive widower rescues dogs from abuse, while "Two Kinds of Temples" juxtaposes a brief affair at a natural spring retreat with the life of a hotel worker. "Full of Days" stands as the collection's high point, following one man's quest to erect an antiabortion billboard along a Las Vegas freeway. Waters (Sunland) offers a diversity of thought and feeling worthy of his complex setting. Agent: Maria Massie, Massie & McQuilkin Literary Agents. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Library Journal Review

A collection of nine superbly crafted short stories, this third book by Waters set in the Southwest (Sunland; Desert Gothic) reminds us that this is not the old Southwest of pioneers and gunfighters but an updated view of broken neighborhoods and rundown lives. In the title story, Emmett, a trustee on a Nevada desert work farm, is up for parole, but his sympathy for the farm's rehabilitated wild mustangs drives him to a decision that frees the horses and sends him back to lockup. Sgt. Lucero Luna returns to his poverty-stricken hometown coping with PTSD in "Espanola," only to learn his despicable father gave his sister to a drug dealer to pay off a debt. In "La Luz de Jesús," screenwriter James Miles retreats to a ranch near Albuquerque to finish a script. Twelve penitents, also living on the land, unexpectedly inspire him to finish his screenplay. "Day of the Dead" tells of an online-assisted suicide group meeting up in Juarez, Mexico. "Full of Days" portrays Marc, a Las Vegas right-to-lifer helping homeless pregnant teens. Tough but vulnerable, all of Waters's characters have been short-changed by life but still cling to something meaningful while coexisting with the intense landscape of the Southwest. Verdict This Iowa Short Fiction Award winner offers original, overpowering pieces; a sure-to-please collection of both beauty and sadness.-Donna Bettencourt, Mesa Cty. P.L., Grand Junction, CO © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

The Saints of Rattlesnake Mountain	p. 3
Last Rites	p. 30
Española	p. 58
La Luz de Jesús	p. 89
Deborah	p. 119
Two Kinds of Temples	p. 129
Day of the Dead	p. 140
Full of Days	p. 163
Todos Santos	p. 184
Acknowledgments	p. 207
About the Author	p. 209

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Summary

Summary

Author Notes

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Library Journal Review

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