Chapters: a Novel - Softcover

Slator, Brian M

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0985994711 ISBN 13: 9780985994716

Publisher: Brian M. Slator, 2012

Synopsis

Chapters is set in the early 1970s, with locations alternating between the city of Minneapolis and the great north woods of the Minnesota/Manitoba border region. The story follows this bunch of guys growing up in a time of war, both domestic and abroad, and how that played as America recovered from Viet Nam and celebrated its Bicentennial in 1976. In some ways, these are pretty normal guys who live in a party house near a university as social and political unrest unspools in the streets around them. It is a time of sex, and drugs, and rock-and-roll – with gender politics and environmental awareness in the news. Then a naked man is slaughtered in their garage by a peevish survivalist, and everything takes a turn. There is no mystery, no hilarious confrontations with authority, and no manhunt in the forest. These come much later. What there is, is nuns and smugglers who quietly ride the underground railway in the middle of the woods. When one of the guys, a big city boy, stumbles across a small-town secret, there are histories, mysteries, and a buried treasure, sort of. Chapters is written in the manner of a 1970s contemporary novel, sometimes called metafiction. At times the fiction theorizes about fiction, while it demonstrates fiction, and recursively explains itself in its own terms as a way of getting to story telling truths. Like the gonzo journalism of those times, this is a gonzo fiction. It is also a ripping good yarn.

About this title

About the Author

Brian M. Slator was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The oldest of four, he broke a leg, had his tonsils out, and survived spinal meningitis, all before the age of five. He was raised in the Minneapolis area, educated in Catholic schools until the 8th grade, participated in track and field through high school, and was a hockey player until trying out for a high school play. He hitch-hiked through Europe, lived in London for a while, and hitch-hiked all over North America. After buying the first of a series of English motorcycles, he rode all over North America, including Sturgis for the Bicentennial . He worked various places through his 20s, attending the U. of M. in a desultory and part-time fashion, then got a job on the Soo Line Railroad as a linesman on a traveling crew living in a railroad car. After that he registered at the UW-L, where he met his future wife. He has remained married to the same woman since 1984, and participated in the raising of three children. He has owned the same motorcycle since 1973, which still starts on the first kick.

Edition details

• Publisher: Brian M. Slator
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0985994711
• ISBN 13: 9780985994716
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 400