These Americans: Book Three - Softcover

Inhaltsangabe

And so we’ve come to book three of the “These Americans” series. I continue to have a hard time defining these writings, as they are most easily identified as literary fiction or contemporary American fiction. The third in this series of road novels, we revisit all our friends from the previous books and meet some new ones too. The big difference between this book and its predecessors is that a large portion of it takes us back to 1998, the Year of the Tiger, a year of grunge, punk rock, and self-discovery. While searching for that place in your heart, or even God, let’s just say you may or may not know all these characters, and you might also find in them some of the drama, some of the comedy, some of that dark humor, and some psychological or philosophical bits of this or that as it all keeps moving on down the road. This being the fifth book in what is becoming serialized, I’ve become less worried about how to write a blurb and more interested in telling it how I see it. I hope you enjoy the “These Americans” series as much as I enjoy writing it. - Aaron Paul

Excerpt from “The Sheer Humanity of Life: The Forward to These Americans Book 3”

by Manny Torres

These subterraneans. With each scene in his books, I can almost hear Ry Cooder’s ambient slide guitar supporting the entrance or exit of a character, or underlying their moment of sanctuary within their thoughts, or sainthood within their actions. Many believe the American dream to be a myth; perhaps it works as an idea, not an ideal. Some barely get out of the gate, much less make it to the finish line. The woman seeking independence and autonomy, the man who loves her and pursues her, the police detective, his partner, (Lucid) all trying to solve a mystery. And the presence of God, creeping around the corner. These are the kinds of characters, by their ambitions and dreams, who embody Aaron’s stories. Dare I say, these characters are cynics who understand there is still a finish line to cross, no matter what obstacles fall in their paths. And getting there is how they get there. These characters roll with the punches, as they say. But they’re likeable, and easy to cozy up with.

His works participate with other like-minded books and writers and partake in the ongoing, literary conversation. Aaron’s contribution is uniquely his. Sharing adventures we might be familiar with, or perhaps have experienced ourselves. It was Jorge Luis Borges who identified four main plots in literature: a valiant fight, a journey, a quest, and a sacrifice. The billions of millions of stories told around the world, and throughout time, all depart from that theorem. What Aaron has done with These Americans is introduce them into the ongoing literary conversation while creating the mythology of his world and characters. They are parts of him. He is the conduit by which their tales are told. This is the blood, sweat and love of characters born from, I’m sure, real-life people and events. I paraphrase Ralph J. Gleason’s liner notes for Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew: ‘it’s all in there, the beauty, the terror, and the love, the sheer humanity of life.’

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