Thomas McGuane

"From one of our most acclaimed writers, a sumptuous gathering of his singular work in the short form, including seven new stories--nothing short of a literary event For more than four decades, Thomas McGuane has been heralded as an unrivaled master of the short story. Now the arc of that achievement appears in one definitive volume: thirty-eight stories drawn from his much-lauded previous collections, and another seven entirely new pieces appearing for the first time in book form. Set in the seedy corners of Key West, the remote shore towns of the Bahamas, and McGuane's hallmark Big Sky country, with its vast and unforgiving landscape, these are stories of people on the fringes of society, whose twisted pasts meddle with their chances for companionship. Moving from the hilarious to the tragic and back again, McGuane writes about familial dysfunction, emotional failure, and American loneliness, celebrating the human ability to persist through life's absurdities"--

Collected and New Stories

Cloudbursts

Returning home to Key West, Thomas Skelton attempts to come to terms with the town's hostility and bizarreness as he tries to establish himself as a fishing guide in the face of a death threat from another guide.

Ninety-two in the Shade

James Welch

The year is 1870, and Fool's Crow, so called after he killed the chief of the Crows during a raid, has a vision at the annual Sun Dance ceremony. The young warrior sees the end of the Indian way of life and the choice that must be made: resistance or humiliating accommodation. "A major contibution to Native American literature".--Wallace Stegner.

Fools Crow

Struggling to find meaning in a sordid and humiliating youth from which he emerged a doctor through the help of a surrogate father figure, Berl Pickett is charged with negligent homicide in the death of a former lover before finding strength in the human connections he made throughout the years. By the author of Gallatin Canyon.

Driving on the rim

Set in his beloved Big Sky country, these stories attest to the generous compass of Thomas McGuane's fellow feeling, as well as to his unique way with words and a comic genius in the vein of Twain and Gogol. In this triumphant collection, filled with grace and humor, the ties of family make for uncomfortable binds: A devoted son is horrified to discover his mother's antics before she slipped into dementia, and a father's outdoor skills are no match for a change in the weather. But complications arise equally in the absence of blood, as when lifelong friends on a fishing trip finally confront their deep dislike for each other. Or when a gifted traveling cattle breeder succumbs to the lure of a stranger's offer of easy money. McGuane is as witty and large-hearted as we have ever known him, and Crow Fair is a jubilant, thunderous confirmation of his status as a modern master.

Crow Fair

Joe Starling battles to overcome his spectacular failures as a rancher, artist, lover, and human being

Keep the Change

Frank Copenhaver becomes so devastated by his wife's abandonment of him that he finds himself falling in love with the wrong women. By the author of Keep the Change. Reprint. 25,000 first printing.

Nothing But Blue Skies

Stars

Ninety-two in the Shade (Contemporary American Fiction)

A collection of thirteen stories of great range, verve, and humor from the highly acclaimed author of Cloudbursts and Ninety-two in the Shade Thomas McGuane's first short story collection is "a cornucopia of McGuane's grace, humor, gusto, and smarts" (Philadelphia Inquirer), and McGuane is a writer who “makes the page, the paragraph, the sentence itself a record of continuous imaginative activity.... [He is] an important as well as a brilliant novelist" (The New York Times Book Review). Includes the stories: • The Millionaire • A Man in Louisiana • Like a Leaf • Dogs • A Skirmish • Two Hours to Kill • The Rescue • Sportsmen • Little Extras • Partners • The Road Atlas • Flight • To Skin a Cat

To Skin a Cat

Set on the majestic stage of Montana cattle country, an unforgettable drama from the acclaimed author of Ninety-two in the Shade and Cloudbursts involving blood, money, sex, vengeance, and a cross-dressing rancher "[McGuane's] sentences are like no one else’s, crisp and spare, yet somehow baroque [and] perpetually balance the picaresque against the sublime." —The New Yorker Sunny Jim Whitelaw, a descendent of pioneers and owner of a large bottling plant, may have died, but he has no intention of relinquishing control: his will specifies that no one gets a cent unless his daughter Evelyn reconciles with her estranged husband, Paul. But Evelyn is a strong-willed woman, fiercely attached to the land, whose horses transport her to a West she feels is disappearing, while Paul is a suave manipulator, without scruples, intent on living well. The Cadence of Grass is renewed evidence that McGuane is one of the finest writers we have, capable of simultaneously burnishing and demolishing the mythology of the West while doing rope tricks with the English language.

A Novel

The Cadence of Grass

The unforgettable story of a hero who goes from Michigan to Montana on a demented mission of courtship—from the acclaimed author of Ninety-two in the Shade and Cloudbursts, a “writer of the first magnitude.... The preternatural force, grace, and self-control of his prose recall Faulkner" (The New York Times Book Review). As a citizen, Nicholas Payne is not in the least solid. As a boyfriend, he is nothing short of disastrous, and his latest flame, the patrician Ann Fitzgerald, has done a wise thing by dropping him. But Ann isn't counting on Nicholas's wild persistence, or on the slapstick lyricism of Thomas McGuane—highlights include a ride on a homicidal bronco and an apprenticeship to the inventor of the world's first highrise for bats. The result is a tour de force of American Dubious.

The Bushwhacked Piano

Chet Pomeroy, a one-time celebrity for whom fame is now a memory, returns home to Key West and attempts to regain the affections of his former lover

Panama

Thomas McGuane's obsession with fish has taken him from the river in his backyard to the holiest waters of the fly-fisher's world. As he travels the fish take him to many and various subjects ripe for random speculation: rods and reels, the classification of anglers according to the flies they prefer, family and memory - right down to why fishermen lie. The Longest Silence sets the heart pounding for a glimpse of moving water, and demonstrates what a life dedicated to sport reveals about life.

A Life in Fishing

The Longest Silence

In life Lucien Taylor has made several mistakes, but the two most grievous are as follows: leaving his wife and son to take up with his old flame, Emily; and putting up Emily's bail when she is arrested for murder. The upshot is that Lucien is left stranded in Montana, with a malodorous hot spring and a squandered sense of purpose. As told by Thomas McGuane, Lucien's attempt to recoup his losses makes for a funny, rueful, and beautifully rendered portrait of American manhood on the rocks--a book that says volumes about the lives of dogs and falcons, the yearnings of sons for fathers, and the skeptical truce that men and women sometimes reach when they get tired of fighting.

Something to Be Desired

Set in Big Sky Country, a triumphant collection of stories written with a comic genius in the vein of Twain and Gogol—from from the acclaimed author of Ninety-two in the Shade and Cloudbursts, “one of America's best short-story writers of the last 50 years" (The Boston Globe) These stories attest to the generous compass of Thomas McGuane's fellow feeling, as well as to his unique way with words. In this collection, filled with grace and humor, the ties of family make for uncomfortable binds: A devoted son is horrified to discover his mother's antics before she slipped into dementia, and a father's outdoor skills are no match for a change in the weather. But complications arise equally in the absence of blood, as when lifelong friends on a fishing trip finally confront their deep dislike for each other. Or when a gifted traveling cattle breeder succumbs to the lure of a stranger's offer of easy money. McGuane is as witty and large-hearted as we have ever known him, and Crow Fair is a jubilant, thunderous confirmation of his status as a modern master.

Stories

Glenn Stout

Selected sports writings from newspapers and magazines include David Halberstam on Michael Jordan, the story of a former Mr. Universe's steroid addiction, and Dave Barry on why the NBA is less offensive than people think. Simultaneous. 45,000 first printing.

The Best American Sports Writing, 1992

The unforgettable story of a housepainter turned doctor in Big Sky country who finds himself on a darkly funny journey to salvation in this “irrepressibly comic and optimistic” novel (The New York Times Book Review) from the acclaimed author of Ninety-two in the Shade and Cloudbursts Berl Pickett is living in the small town of Livingston, Montana. The son of Pentecostal rug-shampooers, Pickett has never been the social toast of the town, but when he is accused of negligent homicide in the death of his former lover, he finds himself ostracized by his colleagues and realizes just how small his little village truly is. But fortunately for Berl, the very thing that sets him apart—his inability to follow the pack—proves to be his saving grace. With this inglorious hero, McGuane has created an unforgettable voyager.

A novel

Driving on the Rim

From the highly acclaimed author of Ninety-two in the Shade and Cloudbursts comes a collection of alternately playful and exquisite essays—including seven collected here for the first time—borne of a lifetime spent fishing. "Thomas McGuane writes about fishing better than anyone else in the history of mankind." —Jim Harrison, New York Times bestselling author of Legends of the Fall The forty extraordinary pieces in The Longest Silence take the reader from the tarpon of Florida to the salmon of Iceland, from the bonefish of Mexico to the trout of Montana. They introduce characters as varied as a highly literate Canadian frontiersman and a devoutly Mormon river guide and address issues ranging from the esoteric art of tying flies to the enduring philosophy of a seventeenth-century angler to the trials of the aging fisherman. Both reverent and hilarious by turns, and infused with a deep experience of wildlife and the outdoors, The Longest Silence sets the heart pounding for a glimpse of moving water and demonstrates what dedication to sport reveals about life.

Thomas McGuane

About

Books

Join the club