Chemistry and Other Stories

Chemistry and Other Stories

Chemistry and Other Stories , A Picador Paperback Original From the pre-eminent chronicler of this forgotten territory, stories that range over one hundred years in the troubled, violent emergence of the New South. In Ron Rash's stories, spanning the entire twentieth century in Appalachia, rural communities struggle with the arrival of a new era. Three old men stalk the shadow of a giant fish no one else believes is there. A man takes up scuba diving in the town reservoir to fight off a killing depression. A grieving mother leads a surveyor into the woods to name once and for all the county where her son was murdered by thieves. In the Appalachia of Ron Rash's stories, the collision of the old and new south, of antique and modern, resonate with the depth and power of ancient myths. Rash, a poet and novelist ( The World Made Straight 2006) steeped in Appalachia, offers 13 haunting and picturesque stories that illuminate the terms of survival in that often forgotten landscape. Three old men pursue the shadow of a giant sturgeon--and rejoice not when they catch it but when they find irrefutable proof of its existence. A Depression-era mother whose son has been found murdered "in the back of beyond" scrounges up six dollars to pay a surveyor to find out exactly where he died, just so she can record it in her Bible. A couple dealing with successive miscarriages, a high-school basketball standout who sabotages his chance in the pros with drugs, a bewildered father watching his son lapsing repeatedly into addiction--each character is imbued with empathy and grace. The collection concludes with a teenager who foolishly steals some marijuana plants from a local good old boy right out of Deliverance , and suffers the horrific consequences. An apt encapsulation of a hardscrabble world, tinged with loyalty and love, but ruled by hard justice and revenge. Deborah Donovan Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved "Rash, a poet and novelist ( The World Made Straight, 2006) steeped in Appalachia, offers 13 haunting and picturesque stories that illuminate the terms of survival in that often forgotten landscape." - Booklist Praise for author Ron Rash: "A major Southern writer . . . The World Made Straight reminds us of the sort of compelling literature a brave artist can fashion from the shards of such experience."-- Los Angeles Times "Captivating . . . His clear, concise prose and regional voice add an authentic veneer to this rich tableau of Southern life."-- Entertainment Weekly on Saints at the River "Ron Rash writes like a prince."--Pat Conroy Praise for author Ron Rash: "A major Southern writer . . . The World Made Straight reminds us of the sort of compelling literature a brave artist can fashion from the shards of such experience."-- Los Angeles Times "Captivating . . . His clear, concise prose and regional voice add an authentic veneer to this rich tableau of Southern life."-- Entertainment Weekly on Saints at the River "Ron Rash writes like a prince."--Pat Conroy Ron Rash is the author of the prize-winning novels One Foot in Eden, Saints at the River and The World Made Straight , as well as several collections of poetry and short stories. He is the recipient of an O. Henry Prize and the James Still Award from the Fellowship of Southern Writers. For Saints at the River he received the 2004 Weatherford Award for Best Novel and the 2005 SEBA Best Book Award for Fiction. Rash holds the John Parris Chair in Appalachian Studies at Western Carolina University and lives in Clemson, South Carolina. Chemistry and Other Stories By Rash, Ron Picador Copyright ©2007 Rash, Ron All right reserved. ISBN: 9780312425081 Their Ancient, Glittering Eyes Because they were boys, no one believed them, including the old men who gathered each morning at the Riverside Gas and Grocery. These retirees huddled by the potbellied stove in rain and cold, on clear days sunning out front like reptiles. The store’s middle-aged owner, Cedric Henson, endured the trio’s presence with a resigned equanimity. When he’d bought the store five years earlier, Cedric assumed they were part of the purchase price, in that way no different from the leaky roof and the submerged basement whenever the Tuckaseegee overspilled its banks. The two boys, who were brothers, had come clattering across the bridge, red-faced and already holding their arms apart as if carrying huge, invisible packages. They stood gasping a few moments, waiting for enough breath to tell what they’d seen. “This big,” the twelve-year-old said, his arms spread wide apart as he could stretch them. “No, even bigger,” the younger boy said. Cedric had been peering through the door screen but now stepped outside. “What you boys talking about?” he asked. “A fish,” the older boy said, “in the pool below the bridge.” Rudisell, the oldest of the three at eighty-nine, expertly delivered a squirt of tobacco between himself and the boys