Friday, January 17, 2014

FFB: The Hereafter Gang -- Neal Barrett, Jr.

Neal Barrett, Jr., died on Monday.  He was a wise man and a wonderful writer.  I'm reprinting this FFB post from 2008 today to honor his memory.

Nobody who's read The Hereafter Gang has forgotten it. I think I can guarantee that. John Clute called it "one of the great American novels." Who am I to argue? It's a magical tale of life, death, and life after death. It's about the present and the past and adulthood and childhood. It's a road trip and a homecoming. It's hilarious and it's heartbreaking. It has a lot of sex in it, too. Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy.

An aside: Neal Barrett, Jr., has been a publishing writer for 50 years now. Have you read his Aldair series from DAW Books? LOTR with pigs. Really. Wonderful stuff. Stress Pattern, also from DAW, another classic. Through Darkest America. What can I tell you? A classic post-apocalyptic tale, scary and funny. And then there are the crime novels, starting with Pink Vodka Blues. You've never read anything quite like them. 

Any one of these books will make your day. Check 'em out.

2 comments:

Todd Mason said...

I still need to read this.

Get off my lawn...it really sank in this morning that 1989 was a quarter-century ago...

Unknown said...

Seems more like a quarter of an hour.