I feel compelled to bring the author John Montfort Gist to your attention, especially since he lives in New Mexico and has written two novels set in the southwest.
Gist, I think, feeds off of Cormac McCarthy as Mcarthy once fed off of Faulkner, and is developing a nice little obsession of his own.
His novels are set primarily in the Southwest and the latest, “A Clearing of the Way” reads like a Fualkneresque pot boiler transported to the present day desert.
From what I understand, he is still fairly young as far as writers are concerned. In short, he deserves more press, especially from his own kind here in the southwest. I feel the tide turning back to an American Letters that are gritty, individualistic and, frankly, dangerous!
Thank you for your time.
Andy
LIZARD DREAMING OF BIRDS
by John Gist
High Sierra Books
January 2004, 215 pages, $24.95
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by Robert Hickey
PopMatters Books and Music Critic
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Psycho Babble
It begins, like so many dark stories do, with a corpse. Jesse, a latter-day hippie with a deck of tarot cards and a decidedly idiosyncratic take on the scriptures, lies dead.
i think Mr. Gist has a tremendous feel for pace, rhythm & sound in his prose. he could be turning into the American version of Nick Cave, author of “And the Ass Saw the Angel.” it is also good to know that Mr. Gist has no qualms about putting his work out via small presses which can still be purchased through amazon.com.
word should spread about this author, maybe even in film form