Description
Book SynopsisThis Side of the Divide: New Lore of the American West is the second entry in the Divide anthology series attempting to capture the newness, vastness, territoriality, and sense of transience alive in the American West. In this collection legends, myths, tales, omens, folk horror, and science fiction explore the fantastical, the apocalyptic, the bizarre, the unknown, and the apocryphal origins and conclusions of life on the occidental side of the Continental Divide. In this collection, after the ‘what is’ comes the ‘what will be’, as acclaimed authors and emerging voices weave tales that push the boundaries of imagination: Ken Liu takes us to the frontiers of America and China in a stark tale of perseverance; Kate Bernheimer immerses us in the fairytale lands of modern celebrity; Benjamin Percy takes us hunting for deer and connection in eastern Oregon; Yuri Herrera grants us insight on our future overlords; Tessa Fontaine places us in-between with a monster and a question; Dominique Dickey chases familiar ghosts; and Willy Vlautin takes us on the wild ride that is a winning streak.
Accompanied by a foreword from This Side of the Divide alum, and author of The Forbidden City, Vanessa Hua, these twenty-five pieces of new lore excavate the beauty, the uncertainty, the longing, the bitter interactions and stark truths; the strong people and vivid places that have shaped, and will continue to shape the West until the end of days.
Trade Review"At once timely and timeless, ancient and futuristic—reimagining and remaking a region long potent in the imagination." - from the introduction by
Vanessa Hua, author of
Forbidden City"The stories in
This Side of the Divide: New Lore of the American West are fantastic, gritty, imaginative; full of characters as complicated and brutal as the landscapes they inhabit. As disturbing as it is delightful, this anthology both reveals and re-imagines the complex beauty of the American West. I couldn't put it down." -
Claire Boyles, author of
Site Fidelity, listed for the Reading the West and PEN/Bingham Book Awards in debut fiction
"
This Side of the Divide: New Lore of the American West is a dazzling ride through reimagined and remixed landscapes of the still-lonesome American West. In its gleeful variety of genres and styles, this anthology affirms that the American West—as an active idea, as a ground for new meaning—is as wide and deep and wild as ever."
- Joseph Scapellato, author of
The Made-Up Man and
Big LonesomeTable of ContentsStories
The Ghosts in the Desert
- Day Al-Mohamed
Thank You, Little Queens
- Laura Arciniega
Canada, Maybe Even California, or Other States
(Wyoming? Montana?)
- Kate Bernheimer
The Wind’s Last Breath
- Jos Burns
The Last Genuine Cowboy
- Katie Carmer
In Fresno, One Last Bath in Dust
- Matt Carney
The Drone Pilot
- Andrew Colarusso
Variation on a Legend
- Jaydn DeWald
Variation on a Myth
- Jaydn DeWald
There Are Ghosts Here
- Dominique Dickey
Crepuscular
- Tessa Fontaine
Broken Crow
- Alyson Hagy
The Objects
- Yuri Herrera; translated by Lisa Dillman
What We Tell Ourselves
- Jac Jemc
What I Assume You Shall Assume
- Ken Liu
Salt
- Tara Lynn Masih
How I Came to Love Kelly Sand’s Sister
- Alex McElroy
Pyrosome
- Kathleen McNamara
Man, Water, Dignity
- Caitlin Palmer
Somebody Is Going to Have to Pay for This
- Benjamin Percy
A Billion Miles from What Was Home
- Phoebe
Once Called California
- Christian Tranberg
The Run
- Willy Vlautin
