Counting Coup [Paperback]

Jack Dann (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 21, 2002

Charlie Sarris is a "fix-it" man in Binghamton, New York, with a younger wife and a child and no prospects. John Stone is an alcoholic Indian medicine man on the road. In some unlikely manner they have discovered a bond between themselves. And they are on the biggest binge ever recorded-a joyous, wild, tender, heart-stopping quest to find the very meaning of life. They steal cars, rob stores, drink whiskey, smoke dope, seduce girls; and discover the frightening magic and old powers that are still alive and working in the modern world of highways and electric heating.

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

My characters often have different "intentions" than their author, who often sits bemusedly in front of the laptop while the characters engage in their own conversations and take the "plot" in directions I never intended. I had intended Counting Coup to be a straight-forward road novel, a novel about two men who are at the end of their lives and decide to show the world that they are still alive, still vital, and can still drink, shout, and shake the trees. I thought I’d write a novel in the tradition of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, or John Steinbeck’s Cannery Row. Originally, I thought it would be interesting to explore the interaction of two men from different cultures in similar circumstances. But once again the research changed the story...and of course my life.

The elements of magical realism in Counting Coup are close to the truth of my own private experiences. I have found as I enter my more mature, reflective years that my "real" life is scattered with these small bits of magic realism. Or perhaps it’s just that as I wander through that distant country that is my past I recast the ordinary into the numinal. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Jack Dann has written or edited over fifty books, including the international bestseller The Memory Cathedral, which is published in over ten languages and was #1 on The Age Bestseller list. The San Francisco Chronicle called it "A grand accomplishment," Kirkus Reviews thought it was "An impressive accomplishment," and True Review said, "Read this important novel, be challenged by it; you literally haven't seen anything like it." His novel The Silent has been compared to Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn; Library Journal chose it as one of their 'Hot Picks' and wrote: "This is narrative storytelling at its best-so highly charged emotionally as to constitute a kind of poetry from hell. Most emphatically recommended."

Dann's work has been compared to Jorge Luis Borges, Roald Dahl, Lewis Carroll, Castaneda, J. G. Ballard, Philip K. Dick, and Mark Twain. He is a recipient of the Nebula Award, the World Fantasy Award, the Australian Aurealis Award (twice), the Ditmar Award (twice), and the Premios Gilgames de Narrativa Fantastica award. He has also been honoured by the Mark Twain Society (Esteemed Knight). His novel, Bad Medicine (retitled Counting Coup in the US), has been described by The Courier Mail as "perhaps the best road novel since the Easy Rider Days." His latest book is the retrospective short story collection Jubilee, which The West Australian called "a celebration of the talent of a remarkable storyteller." He is also the co-editor of the groundbreaking anthology of Australian stories, Dreaming Down-Under, which won the World Fantasy Award in 1999.

Jack Dann lives in Melbourne, Australia and "commutes" back and forth to Los Angeles and New York.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books (September 21, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765301865
• ISBN-13: 978-0765301864
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,799,693 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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