Nocturnal America - (The Raz/Shumaker Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Fiction) by John Keeble (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Winner of the Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Fiction, this collection of tales returns readers to the American Northwest so deftly observed and powerfully evoked in John Keeble's previous works. Nocturnal America occupies a terrain at once familiar and strange, where homecoming and dislocation can coincide, and families can break apart or hone themselves on the hard edges of daily life. In these stories, Keeble populates what journalist Joel Garreau once called the "Empty Quarter" of North America with complex humanity. Life ranges vibrantly through these airy spaces, at times finding itself thrown up against the shifty terrors of political and cultural change.

Keeble's stories hinge on love--its difficulty, its loss and pangs, but also its discovery of good fortune. As his characters come and go, unexpectedly converging, vanishing, or reappearing, their stories reach beyond the ordinariness of life.

Review Quotes

""Nocturnal America", winner of the 2006 Prairie Schooner Prize for fiction, is a supremely satisfying set of nine loosely connected stories that interweave raw emotion, spiritual searching and violence. . . . Keeble illuminates his characters with uncommon clarity, showing the care of an author who's spent 30 years perfecting his form."--Mary Ann Gwinn, "Seattle Times""--Mary Ann Gwinn"Seattle Times (WA)" (11/29/2006)

"John Keeble's beautifully rendered short-story collection, "Nocturnal America", examines the power of family, love and place. . . . The author's feel for people and place are key to this outstanding collection."--Sybil Downing, "Denver Post"--Sybil Downing"Denver Post (CO)" (11/14/2006)

"Writers write about the same 10 things over and over. Love, hate, loyalty, betrayal, innocence, guilt, birth, death, hope, despair. . . . There's nothing new to write about. In the wrong hands, stories can be too familiar. In the right hands, stories show us how we live. John Keeble's hands are the right ones. . . . In issues of craft, Keeble is first-rate."--Ellen Slezak, "Los Angeles Times Book Review"--Ellen Slezak"Los Angeles Times Book Review" (01/17/2007)

About the Author

John Keeble is professor emeritus at Eastern Washington University's Inland Northwest Center for Writers. He is the author of Out of the Channel: The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill in Prince William Sound and five novels, including The Shadows of Owls, Broken Ground, and Yellowfish. His short fiction and nonfiction have appeared in the Village Voice, American Short Fiction, Outside, and Best American Short Stories. Keeble is also the writer for the prize-winning PBS documentary on the life of Raymond Carver, To Write and Keep Kind. He has held a Guggenheim Fellowship and received a Washington State Governor's Award.