Scorch Atlas
Published on 9. September 2009
188 pages
978-0-9825808-6-8 (ISBN)
Description
In this striking novel-in-stories, a series of strange apocalypses have hit America. Entire neighborhoods drown in mud, glass rains from the sky, birds speak gibberish, and parents of young children disappear. Millions starve while others grow coats of mold. But a few are able to survive and find a light in the aftermath, illuminating what we've become. In "The Disappeared,? a father is arrested for missing free throws, leaving his son to search alone for his lost mother. A boy swells to fill his parents' ransacked attic in "The Ruined Child.? Rendered in a variety of narrative forms, from a psychedelic fable to a skewed insurance claim questionnaire, Blake Butler's full-length fiction debut paints a gorgeously grotesque version of America, bringing to mind both Kelly Link and William H. Gass, yet imbued with Butler's own vision of the apocalyptic and bizarre.
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Person
Blake Butler is the author of EVER, a novella from Calamari Press. His work has appeared in Fence, Willow Springs, The Believer, Ninth Letter, and many others. He is the editor of Lamination Colony and No Colony, two experimental journals of new prose. He lives in Atlanta and blogs at blakebutler.blogspot.com.
Content
- Intro
- Praise
- Title Page
- Acknowledgements
- Epigraph
- Dedication
- WATER
- THE DISAPPEARED
- SMOKE HOUSE
- DAMAGE CLAIM QUESTIONNAIRE
- WHERE WERE YOU THAT EVENING?
- WHAT WAS HUMMING?
- HOW LONG HAVE YOU OWNED YOUR HOME?
- LIST THE ESTIMATED VALUE OF DAMAGE.
- HAVE YOU UNDERTAKEN METHODS TO PROTECT AGAINST FURTHER LOSS?
- CAN YOU STILL SMELL THE NIGHT?
- A JEW, A SHRINK AND AN ASSHOLE ALL WALK INTO A BAR.
- COULD YOU BE DOING SOMETHING MORE?
- HOW WILL YOU REMEMBER?
- WANT FOR WISH FOR NOWHERE
- TELEVISION MILK
- THE GOWN FROM MOTHER'S STOMACH
- SEABED
- TOUR OF THE DROWNED NEIGHBORHOOD
- THE RUINED CHILD
- BATH or MUD or RECLAMATION or WAY IN / WAY OUT
- WATER DAMAGED PHOTOS OF OUR HOME BEFORE I LEFT IT
- EXPONENTIAL
- BLOOM ATLAS
- SURFACE(S)
- DIVE
- ON SWIMMING PAST OUR HOUSE
- RESURFACE
- BLOOM
- HOW THE BIRDS FLEW
- OPERATIVE
- FURTHER
- COMA OCEAN
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- EVER
- Copyright Page
