Saturday, August 11, 2007

What is Richard Lange reading?

The current featured contributor at Writers Read: Richard Lange, author of Dead Boys, his debut collection of short stories published this month by Little, Brown.

Lange tags a classic nineteenth-century novel, a collection of stories set in the border counties of Ireland, and a novel that others have called the Great California Novel. Read on to learn more about what Richard Lange has been reading.

About Dead Boys, from the publisher:

These hard-hitting, deeply felt stories follow straight arrows and outlaws, have-it-alls and outcasts, as they take stock of their lives and missteps and struggle to rise above their turbulent pasts.

A salesman re-examines his tenuous relationship with his sister after she is brutally attacked. A house painter plans a new life for his family as he plots his last bank robbery. A drifter gets a chance at love when he delivers news of a barfly's death to the man's estranged daughter. A dissatisfied yuppie is oddly envious of his ex-con brother as they celebrate their first Christmas together.

Set in a Los Angeles depicted with aching clarity, Lange's stories are gritty, and his characters often less than perfect. Beneath their macho bravado, however, they are full of heart and heartbreak.

Visit Richard Lange's website.

Writers Read: Richard Lange

--Marshal Zeringue