Synopses & Reviews
These thirteen tales are populated by an assortment of fictional as well as real characters, all of them vividly sketched and true-to-life: the botanist Linnaeus, the composer Offenbach, the poet Hart Crane, the visionary horror writer H. P. Lovecraft, a southern sheriff, a dealer in rare books, a country singer, an old maid (and her suitor), and a mathematician. Whether these stories are deemed disquieting, comic, prophetic, or tall in the telling, they show us worlds where the truth reveals itself in many shapes. Throughout the writings comprising
More Shapes Than One, Fred Chappell's storytelling magic transforms the commonplace.
Review
"Terrifically enjoyable stories . . . These entrancing pages deserve all the readers they can get."—Michael Dirda,
The Washington Post"It is infinitely satisfying to come upon Fred Chappell's stories. They engage the intellect, titillate the imagination and delicately massage the emotions."—Atlanta Journal-Constitution
"More Shapes Than One stretches time, place, and reality . . . Chappell's mix of fantasy and fact proves to be both entertaining and quite out of the ordinary."—Seattle Post-Intelligencer
"These are marvelous renditions—sometimes exuberant, sometimes mediative, arcane or antic . . . as circular as Borges, as richly symbolic as Kafka, and as zany as Woody Allen."—Kirkus Reviews
"Chappell displays a remarkable imaginative range . . . Through the unforgettable people he introduces us to, we learn that the world, and life, can have many more shapes than one."—Necrofile
Synopsis
These thirteen tales are populated by an assortment of fictional as well as real characters, all of them vividly sketched and true-to-life: the botanist Linnaeus, the composer Offenbach, the poet Hart Crane, the visionary horror writer H. P. Lovecraft, a southern sheriff, a dealer in rare books, a country singer, an old maid (and her suitor), and a mathematician. Whether these stories are deemed disquieting, comic, prophetic, or tall in the telling, they show us worlds where the truth reveals itself in many shapes. Throughout the writings comprising More Shapes Than One, Fred Chappell's storytelling magic transforms the commonplace.
About the Author
Fred Chappell is the award-winning author of over twenty books of poetry and fiction. His previous novels include
I Am One of You Forever and Look Back
All the Green Valley. He teaches at the University of North Carolina in Grennsboro, where he lives with his wife Susan.