Bonneville Stories [Paperback]

Mark Doyon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2001

Some blame God, others blame kismet, and still others rail against random happenstance. All told, maybe there are no accidents. With Bonneville Stories, Mark Doyon delivers ten compelling tales of fate and the freedom to choose.

In the fictional town of Bonneville, good people lose limbs, fight lightning, and slip into sinkholes. They pitch over bicycles, tumble off ladders, and expire without warning. They spin the wheel and take their chances.

It's all in a day's work.

Echoing the wondrous oddity in the works of Roald Dahl, Ray Bradbury, and Donald Barthelme, Doyon’s stories explore a quirky milieu evocative of the novels of Kurt Vonnegut and Frederick Exley, and of the television shows Twin Peaks and The Twilight Zone.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Mark Doyon's compulsively readable fiction presents a fascinating and frightening version of a world where (mis)fortune rules." -- Scott Donaldson, biographer of Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Cheever

About the Author

Mark Doyon, a fiction writer and musician with the rock bands Wampeters and Arms of Kismet, grew up in Fairfax County, Va., a stone’s throw from Bonneville and the Shenandoah Valley.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Pocol Press (June 1, 2001)
• ISBN-10: 1929763093
• ISBN-13: 978-1929763092
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,877,007 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling tales of fate and the freedom to choose, October 14, 2001

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bonneville Stories (Paperback)

Mark Doyon's Bonneville Stories is a compendium of ten short stories set in the fictional town of Bonneville, Virginia and introducing a variety of memorable characters caught up in circumstances all to familiar to American small towns everywhere -- the decline of commerce, the encroachment of developers, the exodus of young people. These wonderfully crafted and compelling tales of fate and the freedom to choose include: Going Underground; A Shortness of Breath; Sooner or Later; Early Out in Ohio; Chemical Sky; Lightning Strikes; Green Grow the Azaleas; Deliver Me; An Act of God?; and The Blue Flame. Mark Doyon is a consummately skilled writer and Bonneville Stories clearly documents him as an author to watch for in the future!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful short stories, August 16, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Bonneville Stories (Paperback)

At the end of each short story I didn't want them to end. They really keep you interested. The characters are so unique. You really get to know them. I can't wait to read the next book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A real treat. Highly recommended., August 13, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Bonneville Stories (Paperback)

Somewhat redolent of the short stories of Salinger in the way that character and location reappear in various tangential or directly connected ways, this collection of tales -- all set in Bonneville a (fictious?) town in rural Virginia -- introduces a fresh new literary voice.

Doyon weaves a beautifully realised fabric of smalltown lives intersecting and careening off one another, each decision made affecting the path of many other characters. And he has a wicked turn of phrase.

I'd say if you are a fan of Salinger, Vonnegut or the earlier work of Pynchon, you won't be disappointed. Heady company, but Doyon holds his own.