Fellow Travelers

Jesse got the ball rolling here.

Early advocates and high praisers of Steve Erickson included Pynchon**, Michael Ventura, Paul Auster, Carolyn See, and Ron Loewinsohn.

Erickson wrote the preface to the Dalkey Archive's 2002 reissue of Ron Loewinsohn's first novel, Magnetic Field(s), a book that sounds intriguing and is on its way to my doorstep. I know little about Loewinsohn or his novel. Has anybody read him, know much about him or his work? Loewinsohn is interviewed about the novel here.

**"Steve Erickson has that rare and luminous gift for reporting back from the nocturnal side of reality, along with an engagingly romantic attitude and the fierce imaginative energy of a born storyteller. It is good news when any of these qualities appear in a writer -- to find them all together in a first novelist is reason to break out the champagne and hors-d'oeuvres." ~ Pynchon's famous blurb for Days Between Stations.

A thread to collect other books and writers who are "reporting back from the nocturnal side of reality", et cetera ....

Steve Erickson's Literature Map.

Carson McCullers is right there, mid-orbit.

Powell's is offering 30% off on select Europa Editions books, which includes Zeroville and These Dreams of You here: http://www.powells.com/subjects/featured-titles/europa-editions-sale/

The lack of interest in Steve Erickson is mystifying. Only 37 LT owners of These Dreams of You in the year since its release. Why don't more people read him?

Totally mystifying. He seems to quite well known in Southern Cal so you think that alone would bump up his numbers, though he should be well beyond being thought of as a regional writer.

Just picked up These Dreams of You today. Finished Zeroville last week. And loved it. Then again, he may not be the most accessible of authors.

Yeah, Zeroville was great. I need to get back to Erickson.

Wasn't as fond of TDOY as the rest of his stuff. A bit of a paean to Obama. And it also looked like a bid for a wider audience. Still better than 99% of the rest of the shit I'm reading, but...

Daniel Lindsay is clearly a fellow traveler here. Lindsay published his master's thesis at the Univ. of Waterloo just last year, 2014: Years Between Stations: The Dream of America in Steve Erickson.

Thank you, Daniel Lindsay!!

>9 absurdeist: weird, I just messaged a few minutes ago cuz I liked your review of Rubicon Beach. I'm Danny Lindsay.

I wish more people read him.

I loved These Dreams of You. For me, his weakest was The Sea Came in at Midnight.

His first four are perfect, one big long novel. Amnesiascope dipped a bit in quality. But I liked TDOY and Autobahn and the one he released during the pandemic, the name escapes me for the moment.