Reviews
Advance Praise for The Boy in His Winter Library Journal Discoveries Selection Lock plays profound tricks, with language—his is crystalline and underline-worthy—and with time, the perfect metaphor for which is the mighty Mississippi itself." — Publishers Weekly (starred and boxed review) An eclectic hybrid of literary appropriation, Zelig -like historical narrative, time-travel tale and old-style picaresque." — Kirkus Reviews In this surreal and otherworldly river journey through time, Norman Lock transports Huck Finn down the Mississippi and deep into America's history—and future. Elegant and imaginative, The Boy in His Winter is a tale that's as hypnotic as it is profound." — GILBERT KING , Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America I read Norman Lock's The Boy in His Winter with delight and amazement. Styled in the vernacular of a rapidly changing America, it stays true to the themes of Mark Twain's original: class relations, race and slavery, childhood innocence, moral hypocrisy—and, of course, the stark beauty and unforgiving nature of America's greatest river. I finished this absolutely elegant narrative feeling that Huck Finn has never been more alive." — DAVID M. OSHINSKY , Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Polio: An American Story and Worse Than Slavery: Parchman Farm and the Ordeal of Jim Crow Justice Praise for Norman Lock One could spend forever worming through [Lock's] magicked words, their worlds." — Believer No other writer in recent memory, lives up to [Whitman's] declaration that behind every book there is a hand reaching out to us, a hand to be held onto, a hand that has the power to touch us, to make us feel." — Detroit Metro Times Lock is a rapturous storyteller, and his tales are never less than engrossing." — Kenyon Review Lock's writing is beautiful, with clean, clear, perfect sentences . . . seducing the reader with language and narrative into a fully realized alternative world." — Shelf Awareness for Readers Lock's stories stir time as though it were a soup . . . beyond the entertainment lie 21st-century conundrums: What really exists? Are we each, ultimately, alone and lonely? Where is technology taking humankind?" — Kirkus Reviews Our finest modern fabulist." — Bookslut A master storyteller." — Largehearted Boy [A] contemporary master of the form [and] virtuosic fabulist." — Flavorwire I can't think of another author who takes such evident, vocal delight in bending the laws of physics and geography (to say nothing of his flouting of various narratological and fictional norms). You can feel the joy leaping off the page." — Full Stop [Lock] is not engaged in either homage or pastiche but in an intense dialogue with a number of past writers about the process of writing, and the nature of fiction itself . . . taking a trope that seems familiar to readers of the weird but analysing it in the fiercest detail." — Weird Fiction [Lock's] window onto fiction [is] a welcome one: at once referential and playful, occupying a similar post-Borges space to the short stories of Stephen Millhauser and Neil Gaiman." — Vol. 1 Brooklyn All hail Lock, whose narrative soul sings fairy tales, whose language is glass." — KATE BERNHEIMER , editor of xo Orpheus: Fifty New Myths, My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me and Fairy Tale Review [Lock] has an impressive ability to create a unique and original world." — BRIAN EVENSON , author of Windeye and Immobility, Advance Praise for The Boy in His Winter Library Journal Discoveries Selection Lock plays profound tricks, with language—his is crystalline and underline-worthy—and with time, the perfect metaphor for which is the mighty Mississippi itself." — Publishers Weekly (starred and boxed review) In this surreal and otherworldly river journey through time, Norman Lock transports Huck Finn down the Mississippi and deep into America's history—and future. Elegant and imaginative, The Boy in His Winter is a tale that's as hypnotic as it is profound." — GILBERT KING , Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America I read Norman Lock's The Boy in His Winter with delight and amazement. Styled in the vernacular of a rapidly changing America, it stays true to the themes of Mark Twain's original: class relations, race and slavery, childhood innocence, moral hypocrisy—and, of course, the stark beauty and unforgiving nature of America's greatest river. I finished this absolutely elegant narrative feeling that Huck Finn has never been more alive." — DAVID OSHINSKY , Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Polio: An American Story and Worse Than Slavery: Parchman Farm and the Ordeal of Jim Crow Justice Praise for Norman Lock One could spend forever worming through [Lock's] magicked words, their worlds." — Believer No other writer in recent memory, lives up to [Whitman's] declaration that behind every book there is a hand reaching out to us, a hand to be held onto, a hand that has the power to touch us, to make us feel." — Detroit Metro Times Lock is a rapturous storyteller, and his tales are never less than engrossing." — Kenyon Review Lock's writing is beautiful, with clean, clear, perfect sentences . . . seducing the reader with language and narrative into a fully realized alternative world." — Shelf Awareness for Readers Lock's stories stir time as though it were a soup . . . beyond the entertainment lie 21st-century conundrums: What really exists? Are we each, ultimately, alone and lonely? Where is technology taking humankind?" — Kirkus Reviews Our finest modern fabulist." — Bookslut A master storyteller." — Largehearted Boy [A] contemporary master of the form [and] virtuosic fabulist." — Flavorwire I can't think of another author who takes such evident, vocal delight in bending the laws of physics and geography (to say nothing of his flouting of various narratological and fictional norms). You can feel the joy leaping off the page." — Full Stop [Lock] is not engaged in either homage or pastiche but in an intense dialogue with a number of past writers about the process of writing, and the nature of fiction itself . . . taking a trope that seems familiar to readers of the weird but analysing it in the fiercest detail." — Weird Fiction [Lock's] window onto fiction [is] a welcome one: at once referential and playful, occupying a similar post-Borges space to the short stories of Stephen Millhauser and Neil Gaiman." — Vol. 1 Brooklyn All hail Lock, whose narrative soul sings fairy tales, whose language is glass." — KATE BERNHEIMER , editor of xo Orpheus: Fifty New Myths, My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me and Fairy Tale Review [Lock] has an impressive ability to create a unique and original world." — BRIAN EVENSON , author of Windeye and Immobility, Advance Praise for The Boy in His Winter In this surreal and otherworldly river journey through time, Norman Lock transports Huck Finn down the Mississippi and deep into America's history—and future. Elegant and imaginative, The Boy in His Winter is a tale that's as hypnotic as it is profound." — GILBERT KING , Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America I read Norman Lock's The Boy in His Winter with delight and amazement. Styled in the vernacular of a rapidly changing America, it stays true to the themes of Mark Twain's original: class relations, race and slavery, childhood innocence, moral hypocrisy—and, of course, the stark beauty and unforgiving nature of America's greatest river. I finished this absolutely elegant narrative feeling that Huck Finn has never been more alive." — DAVID OSHINSKY , Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Polio: An American Story and Worse Than Slavery: Parchman Farm and the Ordeal of Jim Crow Justice Praise for Norman Lock One could spend forever worming through [Lock's] magicked words, their worlds." — Believer No other writer in recent memory, lives up to [Whitman's] declaration that behind every book there is a hand reaching out to us, a hand to be held onto, a hand that has the power to touch us, to make us feel." — Detroit Metro Times Lock is a rapturous storyteller, and his tales are never less than engrossing." — Kenyon Review Lock's writing is beautiful, with clean, clear, perfect sentences . . . seducing the reader with language and narrative into a fully realized alternative world." — Shelf Awareness for Readers Lock's stories stir time as though it were a soup . . . beyond the entertainment lie 21st-century conundrums: What really exists? Are we each, ultimately, alone and lonely? Where is technology taking humankind?" — Kirkus Reviews Our finest modern fabulist." — Bookslut A master storyteller." — Largehearted Boy [A] contemporary master of the form [and] virtuosic fabulist." — Flavorwire I can't think of another author who takes such evident, vocal delight in bending the laws of physics and geography (to say nothing of his flouting of various narratological and fictional norms). You can feel the joy leaping off the page." — Full Stop [Lock] is not engaged in either homage or pastiche but in an intense dialogue with a number of past writers about the process of writing, and the nature of fiction itself . . . taking a trope that seems familiar to readers of the weird but analysing it in the fiercest detail." — Weird Fiction [Lock's] window onto fiction [is] a welcome one: at once referential and playful, occupying a similar post-Borges space to the short stories of Stephen Millhauser and Neil Gaiman." — Vol. 1 Brooklyn All hail Lock, whose narrative soul sings fairy tales, whose language is glass." — KATE BERNHEIMER , editor of xo Orpheus: Fifty New Myths, My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me and Fairy Tale Review [Lock] has an impressive ability to create a unique and original world." — BRIAN EVENSON , author of Windeye and Immobility, Select Praise for Norman Lock''s The American Novels Series "Shimmers with glorious language, fluid rhythms, and complex insights." -- NPR "Our national history and literature are Norman Lock''s playground in his dazzling series, The American Novels. . . . [His] supple, elegantly plain-spoken prose captures the generosity of the American spirit in addition to its moral failures, and his passionate engagement with our literary heritage evinces pride in its unique character." -- Washington Post "Lock writes some of the most deceptively beautiful sentences in contemporary fiction. Beneath their clarity are layers of cultural and literary references, profound questions about loyalty, race, the possibility of social progress, and the nature of truth . . . to create something entirely new--an American fable of ideas." -- Shelf Awareness On The Boy in His Winter "Brilliant. . . . The Boy in His Winter is a glorious meditation on justice, truth, loyalty, story, and the alchemical effects of love, a reminder of our capacity to be changed by the continuously evolving world ''when it strikes fire against the mind''s flint,'' and by profoundly moving novels like this." -- NPR On American Meteor "[Walt Whitman] hovers over [ American Meteor ], just as Mark Twain''s spirit pervaded The Boy in His Winter . . . . Like all Mr. Lock''s books, this is an ambitious work, where ideas crowd together on the page like desperate men on a battlefield." -- Wall Street Journal On The Port-Wine Stain "Lock''s novel engages not merely with [Edgar Allan Poe and Thomas Dent Mütter] but with decadent fin de siècle art and modernist literature that raised philosophical and moral questions about the metaphysical relations among art, science and human consciousness. The reader is just as spellbound by Lock''s story as [his novel''s narrator] is by Poe''s. . . . Echoes of Wilde''s The Picture of Dorian Gray and Freud''s theory of the uncanny abound in this mesmerizingly twisted, richly layered homage to a pioneer of American Gothic fiction." -- New York Times Book Review On A Fugitive in Walden Woods " A Fugitive in Walden Woods manages that special magic of making Thoreau''s time in Walden Woods seem fresh and surprising and necessary right now. . . . This is a patient and perceptive novel, a pleasure to read even as it grapples with issues that affect the United States to this day." -- Victor LaValle , author of The Ballad of Black Tom and The Changeling On The Wreckage of Eden "The lively passages of Emily [Dickinson''s]''s letters are so evocative of her poetry that it becomes easy to see why Robert finds her so captivating. The book also expands and deepens themes of moral hypocrisy around racism and slavery. . . . Lyrically written but unafraid of the ugliness of the time, Lock''s thought-provoking series continues to impress." -- Publishers Weekly On Feast Day of the Cannibals "Lock does not merely imitate 19th-century prose; he makes it his own, with verbal flourishes worthy of [Herman] Melville." -- Gay & Lesbian Review On American Follies " Ragtime in a fever dream. . . . When you mix 19th-century racists, feminists, misogynists, freaks, and a flim-flam man, the spectacle that results might bear resemblance to the contemporary United States." -- Library Journal (starred review) On Tooth of the Covenant "Splendid. . . . Lock masters the interplay between nineteenth-century [Nathaniel] Hawthorne and his fictional surrogate, Isaac, as he travels through Puritan New England. The historical details are immersive and meticulous." -- Foreword Reviews (starred review), SelectPraise for Norman Lock''s The American NovelsSeries "Shimmers with gloriouslanguage, fluid rhythms, and complex insights." -- NPR "Our national history and literatureare Norman Lock''s playground in his dazzling series, The American Novels. . . .[His] supple, elegantly plain-spoken prose captures the generosity of theAmerican spirit in addition to its moral failures, and his passionateengagement with our literary heritage evinces pride in its unique character."-- Washington Post "Lockwrites some of the most deceptively beautiful sentences in contemporaryfiction. Beneath their clarity are layers of cultural and literary references,profound questions about loyalty, race, the possibility of social progress, andthe nature of truth . . . to create something entirely new--an American fable ofideas." -- Shelf Awareness "[A]consistently excellent series. . . . Lock has an impressive ear for themusicality of language, and his characteristic lush prose brings vitality andpoetic authenticity to the dialogue." -- Booklist On The Boy in His Winter "[Lock]is one of the most interesting writers out there. This time, he re-imaginesHuck Finn''s journeys, transporting the iconic character deep into America''spast--and future."-- Reader''s Digest On American Meteor "[Walt Whitman]hovers over [ American Meteor ], just as Mark Twain''s spiritpervaded The Boy in His Winter . . . . Like all Mr. Lock''sbooks, this is an ambitious work, where ideas crowd together on the page likedesperate men on a battlefield." -- Wall StreetJournal On ThePort-Wine Stain "Lock''s novel engages not merely with[Edgar Allan Poe and Thomas Dent Mütter] but with decadent fin de siècle artand modernist literature that raised philosophical and moral questions aboutthe metaphysical relations among art, science and human consciousness. Thereader is just as spellbound by Lock''s story as [his novel''s narrator] is byPoe''s. . . . Echoes of Wilde''s The Picture of Dorian Gray and Freud''s theory of the uncanny abound in this mesmerizingly twisted, richlylayered homage to a pioneer of American Gothic fiction." -- NewYork Times Book Review On A Fugitive in Walden Woods " A Fugitive in Walden Woods managesthat special magic of making Thoreau''s time in Walden Woods seem fresh andsurprising and necessary right now. . . . This is a patient and perceptivenovel, a pleasure to read even as it grapples with issues that affect theUnited States to this day." -- Victor LaValle , author of The Ballad of BlackTom and The Changeling On The Wreckageof Eden "The lively passages of Emily [Dickinson''s]''sletters are so evocative of her poetry that it becomes easy to see why Robertfinds her so captivating. The book also expands and deepens themes of moralhypocrisy around racism and slavery. . . . Lyrically written but unafraid ofthe ugliness of the time, Lock''s thought-provoking series continues toimpress." -- PublishersWeekly On Feast Day ofthe Cannibals "Lock does not merelyimitate 19th-century prose; he makes it his own, with verbalflourishes worthy of [Herman] Melville." -- Gay & LesbianReview On American Follies " Ragtime in a fever dream. . . . When you mix 19th-century racists, feminists,misogynists, freaks, and a flim-flam man, the spectacle that results might bearresemblance to the contemporary United States." -- LibraryJournal (starred review) On Tooth of the Covenant "Splendid. . . .Lock masters the interplay between nineteenth-century [Nathaniel] Hawthorne andhis fictional surrogate, Isaac, as he travels through Puritan New England. Thehistorical details are immersive and meticulous." -- ForewordReviews (starred review), Select Praise for Norman Lock''s The American Novels Series "Shimmers with glorious language, fluid rhythms, and complex insights." -- NPR "Our national history and literature are Norman Lock''s playground in his dazzling series, The American Novels. . . . [His] supple, elegantly plain-spoken prose captures the generosity of the American spirit in addition to its moral failures, and his passionate engagement with our literary heritage evinces pride in its unique character." -- Washington Post "Lock writes some of the most deceptively beautiful sentences in contemporary fiction. Beneath their clarity are layers of cultural and literary references, profound questions about loyalty, race, the possibility of social progress, and the nature of truth . . . to create something entirely new--an American fable of ideas." -- Shelf Awareness "[A] consistently excellent series. . . . Lock has an impressive ear for the musicality of language, and his characteristic lush prose brings vitality and poetic authenticity to the dialogue." -- Booklist On The Boy in His Winter "[Lock] is one of the most interesting writers out there. This time, he re-imagines Huck Finn''s journeys, transporting the iconic character deep into America''s past--and future." -- Reader''s Digest On American Meteor "[Walt Whitman] hovers over [ American Meteor ], just as Mark Twain''s spirit pervaded The Boy in His Winter . . . . Like all Mr. Lock''s books, this is an ambitious work, where ideas crowd together on the page like desperate men on a battlefield." -- Wall Street Journal On The Port-Wine Stain "Lock''s novel engages not merely with [Edgar Allan Poe and Thomas Dent Mütter] but with decadent fin de siècle art and modernist literature that raised philosophical and moral questions about the metaphysical relations among art, science and human consciousness. The reader is just as spellbound by Lock''s story as [his novel''s narrator] is by Poe''s. . . . Echoes of Wilde''s The Picture of Dorian Gray and Freud''s theory of the uncanny abound in this mesmerizingly twisted, richly layered homage to a pioneer of American Gothic fiction." -- New York Times Book Review On A Fugitive in Walden Woods " A Fugitive in Walden Woods manages that special magic of making Thoreau''s time in Walden Woods seem fresh and surprising and necessary right now. . . . This is a patient and perceptive novel, a pleasure to read even as it grapples with issues that affect the United States to this day." -- Victor LaValle , author of The Ballad of Black Tom and The Changeling On The Wreckage of Eden "The lively passages of Emily [Dickinson''s]''s letters are so evocative of her poetry that it becomes easy to see why Robert finds her so captivating. The book also expands and deepens themes of moral hypocrisy around racism and slavery. . . . Lyrically written but unafraid of the ugliness of the time, Lock''s thought-provoking series continues to impress." -- Publishers Weekly On Feast Day of the Cannibals "Lock does not merely imitate 19th-century prose; he makes it his own, with verbal flourishes worthy of [Herman] Melville." -- Gay & Lesbian Review On American Follies " Ragtime in a fever dream. . . . When you mix 19th-century racists, feminists, misogynists, freaks, and a flim-flam man, the spectacle that results might bear resemblance to the contemporary United States." -- Library Journal (starred review) On Tooth of the Covenant "Splendid. . . . Lock masters the interplay between nineteenth-century [Nathaniel] Hawthorne and his fictional surrogate, Isaac, as he travels through Puritan New England. The historical details are immersive and meticulous." -- Foreword Reviews (starred review), Praise for Norman Lock Our finest modern fabulist." — Bookslut A master storyteller." — Largehearted Boy [A] contemporary master of the form [and] virtuosic fabulist." — Flavorwire One could spend forever worming through [Lock's] magicked words, their worlds." — Believer Lock's writing is beautiful, with clean, clear, perfect sentences . . . seducing the reader with language and narrative into a fully realized alternative world." — Shelf Awareness for Readers (starred review) [Lock's] window onto fiction [is] a welcome one: at once referential and playful, occupying a similar post-Borges space to the short stories of Stephen Millhauser and Neil Gaiman." — Vol. 1 Brooklyn No other writer in recent memory, lives up to [Whitman's] declaration that behind every book there is a hand reaching out to us, a hand to be held onto, a hand that has the power to touch us, to make us feel." — Detroit Metro Times All hail Lock, whose narrative soul sings fairy tales, whose language is glass." — KATE BERNHEIMER , editor of My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me and Fairy Tale Review [Lock] has an impressive ability to create a unique and original world." — BRIAN EVENSON , author of Windeye and Immobility, Advance Praise for The Boy in His Winter Reader's Digest Great Books from Small Presses That Are Worth Your Time" Library Journal Discoveries Selection [Lock] is one of the most interesting writers out there. This time, he re-imagines Huck Finn's journeys, transporting the iconic character deep into America's past—and future." — Reader's Digest Lock plays profound tricks, with language—his is crystalline and underline-worthy—and with time, the perfect metaphor for which is the mighty Mississippi itself." — Publishers Weekly (starred and boxed review) An eclectic hybrid of literary appropriation, Zelig -like historical narrative, time-travel tale and old-style picaresque." — Kirkus Reviews In this surreal and otherworldly river journey through time, Norman Lock transports Huck Finn down the Mississippi and deep into America's history—and future. Elegant and imaginative, The Boy in His Winter is a tale that's as hypnotic as it is profound." — GILBERT KING , Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America I read Norman Lock's The Boy in His Winter with delight and amazement. Styled in the vernacular of a rapidly changing America, it stays true to the themes of Mark Twain's original: class relations, race and slavery, childhood innocence, moral hypocrisy—and, of course, the stark beauty and unforgiving nature of America's greatest river. I finished this absolutely elegant narrative feeling that Huck Finn has never been more alive." — DAVID M. OSHINSKY , Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Polio: An American Story and Worse Than Slavery: Parchman Farm and the Ordeal of Jim Crow Justice Praise for Norman Lock One could spend forever worming through [Lock's] magicked words, their worlds." — Believer No other writer in recent memory, lives up to [Whitman's] declaration that behind every book there is a hand reaching out to us, a hand to be held onto, a hand that has the power to touch us, to make us feel." — Detroit Metro Times Lock is a rapturous storyteller, and his tales are never less than engrossing." — Kenyon Review Lock's writing is beautiful, with clean, clear, perfect sentences . . . seducing the reader with language and narrative into a fully realized alternative world." — Shelf Awareness for Readers Lock's stories stir time as though it were a soup . . . beyond the entertainment lie 21st-century conundrums: What really exists? Are we each, ultimately, alone and lonely? Where is technology taking humankind?" — Kirkus Reviews Our finest modern fabulist." — Bookslut A master storyteller." — Largehearted Boy [A] contemporary master of the form [and] virtuosic fabulist." — Flavorwire I can't think of another author who takes such evident, vocal delight in bending the laws of physics and geography (to say nothing of his flouting of various narratological and fictional norms). You can feel the joy leaping off the page." — Full Stop [Lock] is not engaged in either homage or pastiche but in an intense dialogue with a number of past writers about the process of writing, and the nature of fiction itself . . . taking a trope that seems familiar to readers of the weird but analysing it in the fiercest detail." — Weird Fiction [Lock's] window onto fiction [is] a welcome one: at once referential and playful, occupying a similar post-Borges space to the short stories of Stephen Millhauser and Neil Gaiman." — Vol. 1 Brooklyn All hail Lock, whose narrative soul sings fairy tales, whose language is glass." — KATE BERNHEIMER , editor of xo Orpheus: Fifty New Myths, My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me and Fairy Tale Review [Lock] has an impressive ability to create a unique and original world." — BRIAN EVENSON , author of Windeye and Immobility, Select Praise for Norman Lock''s The American Novels Series "Shimmers with glorious language, fluid rhythms, and complex insights." -- NPR "Our national history and literature are Norman Lock''s playground in his dazzling series, The American Novels. . . . [His] supple, elegantly plain-spoken prose captures the generosity of the American spirit in addition to its moral failures, and his passionate engagement with our literary heritage evinces pride in its unique character." -- Washington Post "Lock writes some of the most deceptively beautiful sentences in contemporary fiction. Beneath their clarity are layers of cultural and literary references, profound questions about loyalty, race, the possibility of social progress, and the nature of truth . . . to create something entirely new--an American fable of ideas." -- Shelf Awareness "[A] consistently excellent series. . . . Lock has an impressive ear for the musicality of language, and his characteristic lush prose brings vitality and poetic authenticity to the dialogue." -- Booklist On The Boy in His Winter "[Lock] is one of the most interesting writers out there. This time, he re-imagines Huck Finn''s journeys, transporting the iconic character deep into America''s past--and future." -- Reader''s Digest On American Meteor "[Walt Whitman] hovers over [ American Meteor ], just as Mark Twain''s spirit pervaded The Boy in His Winter . . . . Like all Mr. Lock''s books, this is an ambitious work, where ideas crowd together on the page like desperate men on a battlefield." -- Wall Street Journal On The Port-Wine Stain "Lock''s novel engages not merely with [Edgar Allan Poe and Thomas Dent Mütter] but with decadent fin de siècle art and modernist literature that raised philosophical and moral questions about the metaphysical relations among art, science and human consciousness. The reader is just as spellbound by Lock''s story as [his novel''s narrator] is by Poe''s. . . . Echoes of Wilde''s The Picture of Dorian Gray and Freud''s theory of the uncanny abound in this mesmerizingly twisted, richly layered homage to a pioneer of American Gothic fiction." -- New York Times Book Review On A Fugitive in Walden Woods " A Fugitive in Walden Woods manages that special magic of making Thoreau''s time in Walden Woods seem fresh and surprising and necessary right now. . . . This is a patient and perceptive novel, a pleasure to read even as it grapples with issues that affect the United States to this day." -- Victor LaValle , author of The Ballad of Black Tom and The Changeling On The Wreckage of Eden "The lively passages of Emily [Dickinson''s]''s letters are so evocative of her poetry that it becomes easy to see why Robert finds her so captivating. The book also expands and deepens themes of moral hypocrisy around racism and slavery. . . . Lyrically written but unafraid of the ugliness of the time, Lock''s thought-provoking series continues to impress." -- Publishers Weekly On Feast Day of the Cannibals "Lock does not merely imitate 19th-century prose; he makes it his own, with verbal flourishes worthy of [Herman] Melville." -- Gay & Lesbian Review On American Follies " Ragtime in a fever dream. . . . When you mix 19th-century racists, feminists, misogynists, freaks, and a flim-flam man, the spectacle that results might bear resemblance to the contemporary United States." -- Library Journal (starred review) On Tooth of the Covenant "Splendid. . . . Lock masters the interplay between nineteenth-century [Nathaniel] Hawthorne and his fictional surrogate, Isaac, as he travels through Puritan New England. The historical details are immersive and meticulous." -- Foreword Reviews (starred review) On Voices in the Dead House "Gripping. . . . The legacy of John Brown looms over both Alcott and Whitman [in] a haunting novel that offers candid portraits of literary legends." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review), Advance Praise for The Boy in His Winter In this surreal and otherworldly river journey through time, Norman Lock transports Huck Finn down the Mississippi and deep into America's history—and future. Elegant and imaginative, The Boy in His Winter is a tale that's as hypnotic as it is profound." — GILBERT KING , Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America I read Norman Lock's The Boy in His Winter with delight and amazement. Styled in the vernacular of a rapidly changing America, it stays true to the themes of Mark Twain's original: class relations, race and slavery, childhood innocence, moral hypocrisy—and, of course, the stark beauty and unforgiving nature of America's greatest river. I finished this absolutely elegant narrative feeling that Huck Finn has never been more alive." — DAVID OSHINSKY , Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Polio: An American Story and Worse Than Slavery: Parchman Farm and the Ordeal of Jim Crow Justice Praise for Norman Lock One could spend forever worming through [Lock's] magicked words, their worlds." — Believer No other writer in recent memory, lives up to [Whitman's] declaration that behind every book there is a hand reaching out to us, a hand to be held onto, a hand that has the power to touch us, to make us feel." — Detroit Metro Times Lock's writing is beautiful, with clean, clear, perfect sentences . . . seducing the reader with language and narrative into a fully realized alternative world." — Shelf Awareness for Readers Lock's stories stir time as though it were a soup . . . beyond the entertainment lie 21st-century conundrums: What really exists? Are we each, ultimately, alone and lonely? Where is technology taking humankind?" — Kirkus Reviews Our finest modern fabulist." — Bookslut A master storyteller." — Largehearted Boy [A] contemporary master of the form [and] virtuosic fabulist." — Flavorwire I can't think of another author who takes such evident, vocal delight in bending the laws of physics and geography (to say nothing of his flouting of various narratological and fictional norms). You can feel the joy leaping off the page." — Full Stop [Lock] is not engaged in either homage or pastiche but in an intense dialogue with a number of past writers about the process of writing, and the nature of fiction itself . . . taking a trope that seems familiar to readers of the weird but analysing it in the fiercest detail." — Weird Fiction [Lock's] window onto fiction [is] a welcome one: at once referential and playful, occupying a similar post-Borges space to the short stories of Stephen Millhauser and Neil Gaiman." — Vol. 1 Brooklyn All hail Lock, whose narrative soul sings fairy tales, whose language is glass." — KATE BERNHEIMER , editor of xo Orpheus: Fifty New Myths, My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me, and Fairy Tale Review [Lock] has an impressive ability to create a unique and original world." — BRIAN EVENSON , author of Windeye and Immobility
