Synopses & Reviews
In frontier America, a man lives with a pregnant woman who is not his wife. One day a stranger appears and advises the man to formally register the baby as his own at Fort James, a fabled military outpost. Setting out on a lonely journey across an arid and hostile terrain, the man leaves the woman in the care of the stranger. Soon after he departs, the stranger kills the woman and her unborn child and then sets off in pursuit of the man.
As their parallel journeys unfold, we learn of the mans childhood as a boy with his father working on a ship where men survived by cannibalizing their crewmates, their internment on an island and their subsequent life in a port town; we watch the stranger as he assumes many guises to shape-shift his way through history in pursuit of the mana pawn in the strangers brutal game rewriting the myths of the American West.
Menacing, visceral and lyrical, Beyond the Horizon is an astonishing allegory about the origins of modern Americaa sojourn into the darkest parts of Western lore, which etches out its own unique place in the anti-Western, gothic tradition.
Review
Ireland finds no heroes in his debut novel, which blends fanciful history with magic realism to create a critical allegory of the American expansionist experience.... Intellectual in theme, literary in execution: think Gabriel García Márquez reimagining Little Big Man.” - Kirkus Reviews
Review
Expertly plotted, artfully executed, compulsively readable, Ryan Irelands
Beyond the Horizon offers more evidence that young writers are doing some of their most compelling work in the one-time ghetto of genre fiction, and it marks the debut of a writer with a command of the form, a writer who has something to say. Attempting to engage the mythology of the West as well as of the western itself, Ireland aims high, and thanks to no small amount of vision, talent, and audacity, his novel succeeds on nearly every level
. A page-turner and an adventure story as well as the obligatory deconstruction of the genre the novel evolves into a fantastical history of the American West.”
Tom Andes in The Los Angeles Review of Books
"Blending narratives and playing with concepts of time, Ireland tells a brutal, twisted tale of an imagined, metaphorical American West that will remind readers of Blood Meridian author Cormac McCarthy.”
Toldeo City Paper
Ireland finds no heroes in his debut novel, which blends fanciful history with magic realism to create a critical allegory of the American expansionist experience.... Intellectual in theme, literary in execution: think Gabriel García Márquez reimagining Little Big Man.”
Kirkus Reviews
Ryan Ireland has given readers a mysterious and exciting Western that may become a classic.”
Ron Hansen, author of The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Irelands intensely and brutally violent debut novel sweeps through period and place while exploring the role memory plays in the establishment of creation myths."
Library Journal
Beyond the Horizon is an unflinching, soul-searching story about the dangers of the American West. Through the use of lyrical and mythic prose, Ireland explores the darkest regions of desire, ambition, and survival. Irelands voice stands apart and he will surely be marked as a courageous and essential writer.”
Ann Weisgarber, author of The Personal History of Rachel DuPree
Synopsis
In frontier America, a man lives with a pregnant woman who is not his wife. When a stranger appears and advises him to register the baby as his own at a fabled military outpost, the man sets out on a lonely journey across an arid and hostile terrain. Soon after he departs, the stranger kills the woman before setting off in pursuit of the man.
As their parallel journeys unfold, we learn of the man's childhood working with his father on a ship rife with cannibalism and their subsequent life in a port town; we watch the stranger as he assumes many guises to shape-shift his way through history in pursuit of the man, a pawn in his brutal game of rewriting the founding myths of the American West.
Menacing, visceral and lyrical, Beyond the Horizon is an audacious debut: an astonishing sojourn into the darkest parts of Western lore that showcases a bold and enormous new talent in contemporary fiction.
About the Author
Ryan Ireland was born in Dayton, OH, in 1984. He lives in the village of Alpha, OH, with his wife and three children. He is a strong advocate for public libraries, with work appearing in Public Library Quarterly and Voice of Youth Advocates. His writing has also been published in Fogdog Review, Seems, and Writing on the Edge. In 2009 he was recognized by Glimmer Train as one of the 25 Best New Writers. Beyond the Horizon is his first novel.