There are many ways for a young man to go to hell when trying to find himself. Logan Wilson knows. Deadended in Texas, about to lose his fiancée Caitlin, Logan has impulsively committed himself to work a risky exploratory oil rig in Saudi Arabia’s Rub al Khali desert, the bleak Empty Quarter.
The Empty Quarter is a daunting place of heat, sand and scorpions where oil riggers work under a boss, Jamie Strong, who is Logan’s increasingly unreliable and possibly unstable friend. As they precariously search for legendary high-pressure gas reservoir, Logan is plunged into dangerous depths in his relations with Jamie, the other roughnecks, and the oil company. The consequences could be explosive, Logan realizes as he desperately struggles with his situation and with himself. He now harbors a single barebones plan—to survive the hell of The Empty Quarter.
The Empty Quarter is one of those remarkably gripping stories that leaves the reader a little energy-sapped because of his, or her, involvement in the lives of unusual characters in an unusual setting. This tale of drilling into the earth is, in fact, more about drilling into the souls of men.
The rigors of life on an oil rig form the backdrop for Wilkinson's atmospheric and absorbing second novel (after the Spur-nominated Not Between Brothers). When 27-year-old Wilson Logan leaves his marriage-minded girlfriend for his first love, a job as an oil company driller, his exotic destination is the obscure, so-called "empty" quarter of the Saudi Arabian desert. There he meets his problematic friend Jamie Strong, the driller who was once his professional mentor. Much to Logan's dismay, Strong is still a wild man whose tendencies toward risk and excess cause problems when he begins to mistreat the members of the Indian crew under his charge. Strong's brutality exacerbates old tensions between the two men that date back to an accident on a previous job. Conflict between them boils over just as a huge, valuable oil well they're working on is about to explode. The details of drilling technology initially bog down the narrative, but, when the well finally goes nova, the climax packs a wallop and the emotional aftermath rings surprisingly true. Wilkinson bends the conventions of formula enough to keep things interesting, but the most fascinating aspect of his book is its inside take on the oil industry subculture, particularly the bizarre macho rituals employed by workers to keep their sanity under terribly stressful working conditions. A former oil worker himself, Wilkinson closes with an ominous warning about our limited oil reserves. Anyone eager to learn about his world is sure to find this a satisfying, illuminating read. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
David Marion Wilkinson is a fifth-generation native of Arkansas, born in Malvern, Hot Springs County, to a Presbyterian minister and his wife in 1957. His struggling family relocated to Houston, where he attended Sharpstown High School and worked every afternoon and weekends for an aging, charismatic, alcoholic, and world-weary golf pro and raconteur who told him wonderful stories of life in East Texas, serving as a bomber pilot during WWII, and his experiences on the professional tour in the era stretching from Byron Nelson to Ben Hogan and Harvey Pennick. David was also mentored by two of his high school English teachers, Margaret Stork and Freda Katz--both of whom encouraged him to write.
Within days of his 18th birthday, David began classes at the University of Texas at Austin, roughnecking offshore in Texas and Louisiana in order to pay for his college expenses. He earned a degree in English literature (BA, 1980) with a creative writing concentration, which first introduced him to classic and modern fiction. His undergraduate years also placed him in close proximity to working writers like Michael Mewshaw, David Ohle, Laura Furman, Zulikar Ghose, and Don Graham, among others. 1970s Austin was also home to many of the best Texas writers of the time--like Jan Reid, Edwin "Bud" Shrake, Stephen Harrigan, Gary Cartwright, Shelby Hearon, Billy Lee Brammer, and the ghost of J. Frank Dobie to name only a few. All of these energies combined to attract David's attention, fan the flames of his own ambition, and focus his mind and spirit on the goal of becoming a novelist. By graduation, he knew he wanted to be a writer.
After college graduation, David accepted an assignment in the oil fields of the North Sea and Saudi Arabia--work that took him to remote and hostile locations throughout the world. Those experiences helped to mature him, but, he later said, also cut him off from his middle-class trajectory and prepared him for the isolation of life as a struggling novelist. While overseas, he also read voratiously for the first time in his life, both British and American and even middle-eastern writers, one book after another. This experience would later prove invaluable. As anyone familiar with Larry McMurtry's non-fiction work can attest, one must first hunger to read before they hunger to write. For too long, David had his prerequisites upside down--and the countless idle hours of offshore drilling and long, lonely commutes on boats, trains, and airplanes to Godforsaken places, many not unlike his grandparent's farm in Arkansas, corrected this deficiency.
At the age of 25, David began to write seriously if not professionally. He returned from Saudi Arabia to Austin at age 27, where he married a ballet dancer turned lawyer, and continued to write in conjuction with working a wide variety of horrendous occupations.
Over the next twelve years David wrote four failed novels, racking up well over 300 publisher and literary agent rejections which papered the walls of his garage office and much of the house next door (absent owners), finally publishing his fifth, NOT BETWEEN BROTHERS, in 1996. BROTHERS received award-distinction, was optioned to NBC Studios/Tig Productions for a television mini-series (three years in development before the project was abandoned), and sold 100,000 copies. The 15th Annivesary edition of the book will be released in Spring 2010. The REVIEW OF TEXAS BOOKS said NOT BETWEEN BROTHERS was "simply the best historical novel published about Texas in over a decade."
David went on to publish THE EMPTY QUARTER (contemporary mainstream, 1998), OBLIVION'S ALTAR (historical, 2002), ONE RANGER (with H. Joaquin Jackson, biography/memoir, 2005). He is currently at work on an historical novel, based on true events, set in 1950s West Texas.
David's work has earned two Spur Awards (and been a finalist for that award twice more), the Violet Crown Award (by Barnes & Nobel and the Writers League of Texas), and was a finalist for the Oklahoma Book Award (which says something about any Texas writer). Three of his four books are either now or have been optioned for feature films or television mini-series. Long interested in film, the author adapted THE EMPTY QUARTER for the screen with actor/producer Todd Allen (and screenwriter Bonnie Orr), and co-wrote the script adapted from OBLIVON'S ALTAR (also with Bonnie Orr). Emmy-award-winning screenwriter turned novelist Alan Brennert (www.alanbrennert.com) adapted NOT BETWEEN BROTHERS for NBC, with David modestly consulting.
David is proud of his two sons, Bratton Dean Wilkinson, now a twenty-year-old sophomore (film school) at the University of Texas; and William Tate Wilkinson, a junior basketball player and One-Act performer at Alpine High in the Big Bend of Texas. After living in Alpine and Dallas for five years, David recently returned home to Austin, where he married and settled back down to write. He lives quietly with his writer wife, Martha Strain, a native of San Angelo, Texas, who also attended the University of Texas and graduated with an English degree. Martha's been a successful home builder and is still active in interior decorating, with a passion for fine art and great books, as well as a high tolerance of high-maintenance people. Makes it all work.
For more information about David or his body of work, please access his website: www.david-marion-wilkinson.com.
This review is from: The Empty Quarter (Hardcover)
This excellent thriller set in the uninhabited desert of Saudi Arabia on a drilling rig tips you off right away that the writer has both been in the situation himself and done meticulous research. The book is packed with action and fascinating interaction, between men from various countries working for an American/Arabian oil company. There are constant clashes of culture, race, religion, nationality and personality in one of the most isolated situations possible, where the people involved are forced to work aas a team, no matter how they may feel about each other. I particularly enjoy fiction that teaches the reader something about a new subject, in this case oil and gas drilling. The author thoughtfully provided a picture of the works at the front of the book, with many of the parts labelled. Even though it is fiction, I would have also liked some kind of glossary of technical terms. But I sure can't fault the writing--this is one of those books I just blasted through without wanting to put down, and one I can't wait to lend to family and friends. Good books are made to share!
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This review is from: The Empty Quarter (Hardcover)
I was intrigued by the title of this book as I had lived in Saudi Arabia and been out to rig sites in the Rub Al Khali (the empty quarter). The characters in the book seem very real, if not very likeable. The characterization of the TCN's rang true. The American's came across poorly, but perhaps that too was true. I found the harshness of rig life and the undercurrent of violence to conflict with my exposure to this enviornment, however I will admit to limited knowledge. The writing made you care about the characters and read on. I found the character of Strong to be almost a caricature, drillers normally are party on types but have a great deal more self-control, professionalism, and discipline by the very nature of their work. The technical details were woven into the story in such a way as to make the rig and the well almost characters of their own. On the whole well written, it made me want to visit Hofuf again!
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This review is from: The Empty Quarter (Hardcover)
Who knew? If you are interested in the culture of the Middle East - presented in a way that's entertaining rather than boring; if you want confirmation that men working without the "benefit" of female companionship revert almost immediately; finally, if you never thought you'd be interested in how a drilling operation works - you should treat yourself to this book - I was amazed that I enjoyed it so much.
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