The stories in The Soul as Strange Attractor are described by one reader as “literary fiction edged with magic realism elements,” in which, “early stories play out in the background and wings of later,” ones. As the characters speak, their intent is the truth. They take themselves seriously. We need not, but if we share their sincerity, something cardinal may arise, like gravity waves from the edgeless outermost.

The stories occur in the decades after WW II. The characters reside in Mudgap, a village in the Sierra Fangoso Mountains, west of Las Cruces, founded on gold fever and sustained by tourists and government. They have typical interests: blood on the White Sands, the Vietnam war, Dr. Reich’s Orgone Accumulator, Buddy Bolden’s lost recordings, space aliens, the true meaning of Christmas, the Crown of Aleppo, childhood pranks, the mystery of reality, the tedium of infidelity, tall tales, taller tales, ghosts, and, of course, coming of age. Time is a silent character, miming and mugging his way through the scenes, not in the background, but largely unnoticed.

Readers who doubt the existence of places not found on a map might consider: neither maps nor dictionaries were passed out with the Ten Commandments. The Soul as Strange Attractor doesn’t pretend otherwise.

Monday, February 16, 2015

Rockman Canyon Press is charmed and delighted to announce the release of another product of the Mudgap, New Mexico community. The author, writing, as always, under the name Gregory S Trachta, has produced, The Soul as Strange Attractor, a book of general interest. The book may be downloaded  at Smashwords, or any of the other retailers on the page, To Get a Copy. Potential reviewers are invited to receive a free download from Smashwords using coupon code: EM84B.

 The Soul as Strange Attractor is also available in paperback at the CreateSpace eStore.


CONTEST

We are announcing a contest to select the best written and most thoughtfully constructed BOOK REVIEW. While the contest is open to all members of the PUBLIC, entries will be collected and judged in THREE CATEGORIES. First, we are most interested in receiving reviews written by undergraduate students in any university or college in the United States. Of these, most points will be awarded to those received from students enrolled in FRESHMAN COMPOSITION, the course used to identify serious students, whatever that course might be officially named at your school. Second, we are interested in receiving entries from any other readers, excepting those who write reviews for publication. In the third category we will recognize the reviews of those making it their vocation or avocation to review books.

PRIZES

Our panel of judges, all prominent but anonymous residents of Mudgap, New Mexico, will judge the FIRST CATEGORY and select the best for inclusion in either our GOLD CIRCLE or in our RUNNERS UP list.

The best written entries in the second category will be posted on this site and judged by our readers through comments to this web site. Rockman Canyon Press will be the sole judge of which comments are of greatest weight. Winners will be accorded a GOLD STAR.

Reviews in the third category will be linked from this website and comments entertained as above but no opinion as to quality will be reflected by Rockman Canyon Press and no awards will be made.

We emphasize that no monetary or material awards of any type will be made.

The sole criteria for judging any review will be its interest and usefulness to potential readers of "The Sole as Strange Attractor." Whether the review is favorable or unfavorable will be  immaterial to the judges.

Reviews may be transmitted via the comments form on this site or via email to LloydBarnstaffLloyd@mudgapnm.com. Please identify which category you are entering along with the  name of the course you are taking if submitting for category ONE.


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1 comment:

  1. Hal LowndeMay 6, 2015 at 6:17 PM

    Catch Lauren Scharhag’s blog and her posting of an excerpt from “The Soul as Strange Attractor.”
    http://laurenscharhag.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete

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Goodbye For Now

Goodbye For Now
Ever wonder what the Vietnam War was all about? So does Lydia. Every day. It’s a puzzle unsolved, but she muddles through in her coiling story, “Goodbye for Now,” collected in, “The Soul as Strange Attractor.”