What is Joseph Wallace reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Joseph Wallace, author of Slavemakers.

His entry begins:

Given that my new novel is set in some (indeterminate) post-apocalyptic future, it might seem strange that my recent reading choices have looked backward—specifically to historical fiction.

I just finished reading Gringos, a not-very-well-known 1991 novel by the American writer Charles Portis, most famous for his novel True Grit. (And that fame comes more from the two hit movie versions than from the book itself.) True Grit, bleak, violent, and told in tough vernacular prose by a teenage girl named Mattie Ross, is a strange masterpiece, but I think I might like Gringos—a kind of shaggy-dog novel—even better.

Gringos throws together a multinational bunch of colorful characters—pot hunters, archaeologists, smugglers, cult members—in the Wild West-style cities and jungles of southern Mexico. Then it sits back to see what happens next. American expat Jimmy Burns is the narrator, and his laconic voice as he observes the insanity around him makes him great company. The book is smart and funny and insightful about the way...[read on]

About Slavemakers, from the publisher:

The new postapocalyptic thriller from the author of Invasive Species

IT’S THEIR TERRITORY NOW.

Twenty years ago, venomous parasitic wasps known as “thieves” staged a massive, apocalyptic attack on another species—Homo sapiens—putting them on the brink of extinction.

But some humans did survive. The colony called Refugia is home to a population of 281, including scientists, a pilot, and a tough young woman named Kait. In the African wilderness, there’s Aisha Rose, nearly feral, born at the end of the old world. And in the ruins of New York City, there’s a mysterious, powerful boy, a skilled hunter, isolated and living by his wits.

As the survivors journey through the wastelands, they will find that they are not the only humans left on earth. Not by a long shot.

But they may be the only ones left who are not under the thieves’ control…

Visit Joseph Wallace's website.

The Page 69 Test: Slavemakers.

Writers Read: Joseph Wallace.

--Marshal Zeringue