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Books > Fiction > Special features
Returning to the territory of "Brokeback Mountain" (in her first
volume of Wyoming Stories) and Bad Dirt (her second), National Book
Award and Pulitzer Prize winner Annie Proulx delivers a stunning
and visceral new collection. In "Fine Just the Way It Is," she has
expanded the limits of the form. Her stories about multiple
generations of Americans struggling through life in the West are a
ferocious, dazzling panorama of American folly and fate.
"Every ranch...had lost a boy," thinks Dakotah Hicks as she
drives through "the hammered red landscape" of Wyoming, "boys
smiling, sure in their risks, healthy, tipped out of the current of
life by liquor and acceleration, rodeo smashups, bad horses, deep
irrigation ditches, high trestles, tractor rollovers and 'unloaded'
guns. Her boy, too...The trip along this road was a roll call of
grief."
Proulx's characters try to climb out of poverty and desperation
but get cut down as if the land itself wanted their blood. Deeply
sympathetic to the men and women fighting to survive in this harsh
place, Proulx turns their lives into fiction with the power of myth
-- and leaves the reader in awe. The winner of two O. Henry Prizes,
Annie Proulx has been anthologized in nearly every major collection
of great American stories. Her bold, inimitable language, her
exhilarating eye for detail and her dark sense of humor make this a
profoundly compelling collection.
Gorgeous Collector's Edition. Many medieval writers, especially
from France and Wales, wrote stories about the great British
leader, King Arthur. Legends, folklore and myths from this period
come together to paint a picture of who he was with some describing
him as a great warrior, defending Britain from its enemies, while
others suggest Arthur had magical qualities. Throughout this
mystery, King Arthur has become an iconic figure, known for his
court and knights and his chivalric adventures. This collection
offers a selection of myths, featuring Arthur's knights of the
round table, his love for Queen Guinevere and of course the
ultimate betrayal by his most trusted knight, Sir Lancelot. Flame
Tree Collector's Editions present the foundations of speculative
fiction, authors, myths and tales without which the imaginative
literature of the twentieth century would not exist, bringing the
best, most influential and most fascinating works into a striking
and collectable library. Each book features a new introduction and
a Glossary of Terms.
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