No Clock in the Forest [Paperback]

Paul J. Willis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1993

Old professor Garth vanishes atop South Queen Mountain, leaving William, his cynical traveling companion, with a scrap of obscure verse and the rusty key to a magical realm. Reprint.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Avon Books (Mm) (August 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380720779
• ISBN-13: 978-0380720774
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,887,169 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Paul J. Willis was born in 1955 and did most of his growing up in Corvallis, Oregon. In high school, he started climbing the nearby peaks of the Cascades, and a mythic version of these mountains became the soul of his first novel, No Clock in the Forest. A revised version of this novel, together with three sequels, has just been published as a single book, The Alpine Tales.

He first drafted No Clock in the Forest while pursuing his graduate degrees in English at Washington State University. He is now a professor of English at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California, where he teaches British Renaissance literature and creative writing.

During his years of teaching he gradually learned to write poetry, and now has two full-length collections, Visiting Home and Rosing from the Dead. His poems have been featured on Verse Daily and on Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac, and he was just selected as the Poet Laureate of Santa Barbara for 2011-13. With his friend David Starkey he edited an anthology of American poems in response to Shakespeare, In a Fine Frenzy. (They were overwhelmed with submissions about Ophelia.)

The personal essay is also important to him, and he celebrated his fiftieth birthday with the publication of Bright Shoots of Everlastingness: Essays on Faith and the American Wild, chosen by ForeWord magazine as the best essay collection of 2005.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Marvellous mythic adventure, April 11, 2000

By 

Stephen D. Schaper (Rochester, MN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: No Clock in the Forest (An Alpine Tale) (Paperback)

In the tradition of the Narnia Chronicles, _No Clock in the Forest_ is the best-written novel in the English language since Mark Helprin's _Winter's Tale_. Set in a vividly-depicted Pacific Northwest, William, followed by Lance and Gwen, become lost on hikes in the mountains and find the wilderness about them strangely changed, wilder, and full of unsuspected magic. The Muses dwell here, as do the fair folk and talking marmots. An ancient struggle between good and evil is coming to a head.

Prof. Willis paints with his prose and wields historical and Arthurian allusions with a deftness not seen since Milton. The adult reader will enjoy insights that may be over-looked by the juvenile, who will nonetheless love this book.

This novel truly is one of my all-time favorites. I even keep it on the same shelf as my Tolkien collection. I have had the pleasure of sharing this new classic with friends who have in turn fallen in love with it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book!, December 21, 1999

By 

London Association of Book Reviewers (London, England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: No Clock in the Forest (An Alpine Tale) (Paperback)

This book is truly amazing and brings a new understanding to the beautiful wilderness. This is a real classic and a must read! This is truly the best book you can ever get for under 8 bucks! I sure wish we had wilderness here.

4.0 out of 5 stars Happy to find an old favorite, March 3, 2011

By 

Lilas "teacher/writer" - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: No Clock in the Forest (Paperback)

I recently purchased this novel in the Amazon Marketplace. I read it about 15 years ago and no one else ever seemed to have heard of it. (Other than the friend who lent it to me). I couldn't remember who wrote it and eventually I was able to find it here on Amazon, which is one reason I love the internet.

As to the story itself, it starts out a little slowly, as it is unclear who the main character is going to be. Is it Garth? Is it William? We start off with those two but I would say the main character is really Grace Foster, and once she comes along a couple of chapters in, the story gets going. This approach would not fly with today's editors, but if you persevere past the beginning where you're saying "Who is the main character? How is this a fantasy novel?" you'll be glad you did.

I still find this to be an unusual fantasy novel for a few reasons. It's not set in an earlier time or another world. There is a lot of mystery but not "magic" going on, per se. It has a subtle undertone of environmentalism - but it feels natural, not preachy. It takes a satirical tone at times.

And the marmots. Oh the marmots. When I first read this, I thought they were made up. I kept thinking "What is a marmot?" I didn't have a picture of one on the cover like this edition does. Now of course, I know they are a rodent of sorts, like a prairie dog.

One thing I discovered in rereading this gem is that it's part of a series. I'm looking forward to discovering the rest, now that I know it exists.