Tag Archives: Nualláin House

Limited Edition: Exile In Paradise

Limited Editions, Non-fiction, Poetry, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Exile In Paradise

by Pat Nolan

 

EGRET1 title2x3The selection of poems in Exile In Paradise are derived from a lifelong appreciation of Chinese poetry.  Each of the  poems finds its origin in a line from an ancient Chinese poet.  The body of the poem consists of an improvisation from that line with the aim of using elements of Chinese prosody such as parataxis and parallelism while being cognizant that Chinese nouns have no number, verbs have no tense, few if any conjunctions or prepositional indicators, and that each line contains its own integrity, apart from any overarching discursive intent.  Chinese poetry is image rich and largely dependent for its overall effect on the juxtaposition of these images in a discontinuous thread that is not unlike the successive frames of film.  The poems in Exile In Paradise makes use of this ancient prosody to achieve a synthesis between an historically distant culture and the contemporaneous radically different literature of today.
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Exile In Paradise was published by Bamboo Leaf Studio in 2009 in a limited edition signed by the author with his seal.  Most of the covers are made from repurposed ‘stick & strings’ wallpaper samples and vary with each copy. A few of the covers were printed on a distressed heavy weight print paper using a stencil design. The endpapers are Japanese silkscreened patterns imported from Kyoto, as are the binding strips. The illustrations accompanying the poems are reproductions from a nineteenth century block printed Japanese compendium of seals and calligraphic signatures of ancient Chinese painters in the possession of the author.  Exile In Paradise measures 5.5×8.5 inches (14×21.5 cm) and is bound with a traditional four hole Japanese style binding.  The poems were printed on a limited supply of discontinued Gainsboro text stock.  Exile in Paradise is out of print in this edition.

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To view a pdf facsimile click on Exile In Paradise 2009

Limited Edition: Carved In Stone

Limited Editions, Poetry, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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Carved In Stone, a tanka sequence by Pat Nolan, was published by Empty Head Press in the Summer of 2013 in a limited numbered edition signed by the author with his seal.  The covers are printed on heavy weight dragon cloud washi featuring reproductions of one of four Japanese prints from the series Imayo sugata (Stylish Appearances) as are the bamboo leaf endpapers.  Carved In Stone measures 4.25×3 inches (10.7×7.8 cm) and is bound in the Yamato style binding.  The 26 text pages (including 5 illustration) are printed on recycled paper.
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Tanka ,meaning ‘short song,’ is an unrhymed poem with a fixed thirty-one syllable pattern of 5-7-5-7-7.  In Westernized stanza form, it is a five line poem.   Tanka, one of the oldest of Japanese verse forms, dates back to before the 11th Century.  Tanka gained renewed popularity in the late 19th Century among radically modern young poets who brought its diction and subject matter up to date.  Historically, tanka is a precursor to renga, haikai, and haiku.
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The poems in Carved In Stone do not follow precisely the fixed syllabic count nor do they conform to many of the accepted tanka conventions but seek a synthesis and accommodation brought about by translation into a radically different language and culture.

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A few copies of Carved In Stone are still available from the publisher for $20 each plus shipping.  See How To Order for more information.

Limited Edition: All Ears

Limited Editions, Poetry, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

All Ears

haikai no renga by Keith Kumasen Abbott, Pat Nolan, Maureen Owen & Michael Sowl

Renku PoetsAll Ears, a haikai no renga or linked verse, was the first of the collaborations between Maureen Owen, Keith Kumasen Abbott, Michael Sowl, and Pat Nolan to be made into a limited edition handmade book and was published by Empty Head Press in 2004.  Subsequently, Random Rocks and Poetry For Sale, both haikai no renga, were issued as limited edition handmade books(see Nualláin House archives for July 2013 and October 2012).  All Ears was also included in the anthology Saints of Hysteria, A Half Century of Collaborative American Poetry (Soft Skull Press, 2007).   

All Ears was composed through the mail over a period of a year and a half beginning in early 1992.  Once the 36 stanzas (kasen) of the haikai-no-renga were completed, each poet was asked to comment on the process in general, and on their own stanzas and those of their collaborators.  The arrangement of stanza follows the standard haikai form of 8 stanzas on the first sheet and 8 stanzas on the back sheet with the remaining 20 stanzas taking up the central text.  Following the haikai no renga and the commentary by the poets is the sequence showing the stanza assignment as well as which poets had the moon and flower stanzas.   

All Ears was bound using repurposed “sticks & strings” wallpaper sheets from a wallpaper sample book as cover stock and backed with Japanese silkscreen endpapers.  Each cover was unique in itself. The pages were folded vertically with a folded leading edge as is common in Japanese books.  Each book was hand sewn using a Japanese side stitch style known “tortoiseshell.”  The dimensions are 4.25×10 inches (10.5×16.5 cm).  Only a limited number of All Ears were produced and it is out of print. 

For more on the intriguing subject of Japanese Linked Verse, see Earl Miner’s Japanese Linked Poetry (Princeton, 1979), Hiroaki Sato’s One Hundred Frogs (Weatherhill, 1983), and Haruo Shirane’s Traces Of Dreams (Stanford, 1998).

To view a PDF facsimile of All Ears, click on ALL EARS 2004

Nualláin House So Far

Crime Fiction, Fiction, Modern Poetry, Non-fiction, Poetry, Western, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

HELLOLIFEjHello Life by Gail King
Poetry; The poems of Hello Life achieve their freshness in the particularity of experience. The poet surrenders herself to the moment and tenders that subtle cognition as a delighted welcome to life. The ease of her expression in dealing with the everyday communicates an uncommon wisdom. The poems present, through playful understatement and sly humor, the immediacy of spontaneous impressions. Maureen Owen, former artistic director for The Poetry Project in NYC and author of Edges of Water and Erosion’s Pull, says “In Gail King’s poems the events of the day become transformative, the images of the temporary become immediate, and the mystery of being alive in the Now unfolds. “…time like a lake breeze” says the poet, and the wind rises.” Gail King’s poems have also won the praise of Andrei Codrescu, poet, novelist, essayist and NPR commentator, author of So Recent Rent A World, who said “Reading Gail King has always been one of my great poetry pleasures. Her inimitable voice narrates the world with humor and tenderness, a world of beauty and occasional sorrow. Her work has healing effects.”
 December 2013  ~  $16.00  ~  64 pages ~ Paper  ~  ISBN 978-0-9840310-3-0

 

The Last ResortThe Last Resort, A Lee Malone Adventure by Pat Nolan
Meta Pulp– Pat Nolan has written a fast paced, tongue-in-cheek, pun filled comedy of errors, misunderstandings, and faux intuition in the mode of a 1930’s pulp thriller to talk about the pulp fiction of that era.  In doing so, The Last Resort presents an unlikely set of circumstances in which a worldly-wise female reporter must untangle herself from her past in order to deal with the puzzling events of her present.  Rather than the typical splinter-jawed, broken nosed, tobacco breathed tough guy hero, Nolan upends the stereotype by introducing a gorgeous internationally famous former fashion model whose super power is her beauty.  THE LAST RESORT, A Lee Malone Adventure, is a quirky, entertaining recreation of the lurid screed that once peopled pulp pages on newsstands everywhere.
August 2012 ~ $19.99 ~ 212 pages ~ Paper~ ISBN 978-0-9840310-2-3

“Has-been supermodel Lee Malone retains her drop-dead gorgeous looks—and haute couture wardrobe—and uses them every chance she gets to solve a murder mystery and live to write about it in The Last Resort: A Lee Malone Adventure. Author Pat Nolan sets this labyrinthine adventure in his home turf along the Russian River communities, renamed the Corkscrew River in the book. Having survived a botched kidnap attempt and a rescue by a secret female militia, Malone seeks the “quiet life” among the redwoods. She writes puff pieces for the Corkscrew County Grapevine, but stumbles into a deeper, more sinister story. Nolan weaves his heroine’s backstory throughout, touching on issues of homelessness, sex slavery, pornography and ever-changing relationships in river communities, while retaining a sense of humor and comic relief.”
— North Bay Bohemian, Fall Literary Issue, 2012

                  

ontheroadfront300On The Road To Las Cruces, Being A Novel Account of The Last Day In The Life of A Legendary Western Lawman by Pat Nolan
Historical Fiction; On The Road To Las Cruces, a work of fiction tethered loosely to historical fact, is the story of the relationship between two men, one garrulous, the other taciturn, the Mutt and Jeff of the old Southwest.  What is related on the road to Las Cruces is as much a retelling of some history as it is how such a retelling might come about, and is represented in the manner of a tall tale, the deadpan details of a crime story, melodrama, and a conspiracy to murder. The road to Las Cruces is full of twists and turns.  The sound of a door slamming like a gunshot brings us into the world of the old Southwest and the gun violence of that historical era.  More than just the tale of a legendary lawman who remains nameless to the end, it is a lesson in storytelling and an allegory for how lives were lived and how death was dealt.  As much a dusty tale of buffalo hunts and shoot-outs as a politically driven “whodunit,” On The Road To Las Cruces is the story of youthful bravado and an old man’s regret.
November, 2011 ~ $16.99 ~ 154 pages ~ paper ~ ISBN 978-0-9840310-1-6

   “. . . a real old-fashioned Western. Page-turner. There are all sorts of funny sly mixes in the story, good Nolan humor, great repartee. . . .” – Andrei Codrescu, NPR commentator and author of Whatever Gets You Through The Night.                              

“Pat Nolan is not only one of our finest living poets. . . but now surprises with a prose paean to the West. Whatever Pat writes deserves to be read and remembered.” – Barry Gifford, author of Wild At Heart and Sailor And Lula

                                                                                                                    

 

 

 

 

What is being said about Gail King

Modern Poetry, Non-fiction, Poetry, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Gail King lives in a shed and has been getting away with murder for years.  This can be explained in part by quoting Hugh Kenner who said “American genius (in literature) cannot be distinguished by a casual glance from charlatanry. Purity of intention lies at the heart of American achievement.”  

Of her recent book of poems, Hello Life, Keith Kumasen Abbott, professor emeritus and author of numerous books of poetry, prose, and non-fiction, including Downstream from Trout Fishing In America, a Memoir, says “In Hello Life Gail King often uses sleight of hand as she guides readers into a scene, a mood, a spiral, then disappears while events continue for us alone. Her art is beguiling, comic, candid and a pleasure.” 

Maureen Owen, former artistic director for The Poetry Project in NYC and author of many books of poems, including Edges of Water and Erosion’s Pull, says “In Gail King’s poems the events of the day become transformative, the images of the temporary become immediate, and the mystery of being alive in the Now unfolds. “…time like a lake breeze” says the poet, and the wind rises.”

Gail King’s previous book of poems, Boxes & Chair (What Leaf Press, 2006) won the praise of Andrei Codrescu, poet, novelist, essayist and NPR commentator, author of So Recent Rent A World, who said “Reading Gail King has always been one of my great poetry pleasures. Her inimitable voice narrates the world with humor and tenderness, a world of beauty and occasional sorrow. Her work has healing effects.”

Joanne Kyger, author of more than twenty books of poetry and prose, including About Now: Collected Poems, and recipient of the 2008 PEN Oakland Josephine Miles National Literary Award for Poetry said of Boxes & Chairs “. . .a lovely lovely book. . .with direct beauty of what actually happens. [The poems] are all about SOMETHING, not just states of mind mired in ‘language’.”

Gail King, a Bay Area native, has lived in the Northern California town of Monte Rio for over 40 years. She has written poetry all her adult life and was the publisher of Doris Green Editions, a small literary press active in the ‘70’s and ‘80’s.  Boxes & Chairs, her third selection of poems, was published by What Leaf Press in 2006. Many of the poems featured in that selection are included in Hello Life.

 

 

HELLOLIFEj

December 2013  ~  $16.00  ~  64 pages ~ Paper  ~  ISBN 978-0-9840310-3-0

 now available from
Nualláin House, Publishers
Box 798 Monte Rio,California, 95462
(free shipping through December 31st, 2013)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello Life, Poems by Gail King

Modern Poetry, Non-fiction, Poetry, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Coming in December!
New from Nualláin House, Publishers!!!
Order now and get free shipping!!
(offer good through December 31st, 2013)

HELLO LIFE

Poems by Gail King

The poems of Hello Life achieve their freshness in the particularity of experience. The poet surrenders herself to the moment and tenders that subtle cognition as a delighted welcome to life. The ease of her expression in dealing with the everyday communicates an uncommon wisdom. The poems present, through playful understatement and sly humor, the immediacy of spontaneous impressions.
  

SOME DAYSHELLOLIFEj

Some days
there is fog
that rolls
down the hills
and pours
like great waterfalls
off the land
to disappear into the sea
and you can drive
in and out of fog streams
and see a line in the air
where sunlight turns to shadow
behind hills

In Hello Life Gail King often uses sleight of hand as she guides readers into a scene, a mood, a spiral, then disappears while events continue for us alone. During Flood of 95 she directs our camera eyes through wreckage and despair − then fades away; and each reader is morphing through slippery endings. “ inside we walk on cardboard/ make ourselves tough to stand it/ months down the road our anger will/ burst upon us/ now the green is good and there are/  plum blossoms”  Her art is beguiling, comic, candid and a pleasure. −Keith Abbott, author of Downstream from Trout Fishing in America, A Memoir and The First Thing Coming

Gail King, a Bay Area native, has lived in the Northern California town of Monte Rio for over 40 years. She has written poetry all her adult life and was the publisher of Doris Green Editions, a small literary press active in the ‘70’s and ‘80’s.  Boxes & Chairs, her third selection of poems, was published by What Leaf Press in 2006. Many of the poems featured in that selection are included in Hello Life.

December 2013  ~  $16.00  ~  64 pages ~ Paper  ~  ISBN 978-0-9840310-3-0

Praise for Boxes & Chairs

“Reading Gail King has always been one of my great poetry pleasures. Her inimitable voice narrates the world with humor and tenderness, a world of beauty and occasional sorrow. Her work has healing effects.” − Andrei Codrescu, NPR commentator and author of So Recently Rent A World 

“. . .a lovely lovely book. . .with direct beauty of what actually happens. [The poems] are all about SOMETHING, not just states of mind mired in ‘language’.”   − Joanne Kyger, poet, author of About Now, Collected Poems

To be the first on your block to get a copy of Hello Life click on How To Order on the menu line above


 

 

 

Limited Edition: Carbon Data

Limited Editions, Modern Poetry, Non-fiction, Poetry, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Carbon Data

By Pat Nolan

 

carbon dataCarbon Data is a limited edition poetry selection published by Last Cookie Press in 2008, bound with 60# granite grey cover stock in the Japanese four-hole style.  35 pages, 8.5×5.5 

The poems in Carbon Data first appeared in Fell Swoop, Tight, Exquisite Corpse, Smelt Money, Kickass Review, Watching The Wheels: A Blackbird, Court Green, and Otolith as well as in volumes of selected poetry including Fly By Night (1992), The Nolan Anthology Of Poetry, Vol. II (2003), and Later (2007).  

Pat Nolan’s poetry and prose have been published in numerous magazines including Rolling Stone, The Paris Review, The World, Big Bridge, Poetry Flash, and Exquisite Corpse as well as literary magazines in Europe and Asia.  He is the author of fifteen books of poetry, including LATER from On The Fly Press (2007).  

This limited edition is still available for $10 plus shipping.  Get free shipping when you purchase a copy of either On The Road to Las Cruces or The Last Resort along with Carbon Data.  Click here to preview a pdf facsimile of  CARBON DATA 2008

Limited Edition: Random Rocks

Limited Editions, Non-fiction, Poetry, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Random Rocks

Haikai No Renga

By The Miner School of Haikai Poets

randrksfcRandom Rocks is a limited edition haikai no renga (linked verse) published by Bamboo Leaf Studio in 2007.  The size of the edition was linked to the number of stanzas in a kasen, a standard renga length employed by Basho and his disciples, and in the memorializing of the 36 immortal poets of Japanese literature.  Random Rocks measures 5.5x 7 (14x17cm), is hand sewn in the Japanese side stitch style, bound in heavy green chiri paper, momogami binding strips and features Japanese silk screen end papers.  The edition was divided evenly among the four haikai poets to distribute as they saw fit.                                                                                        

The Miner School of Haikai Poets have engaged in the practice of haikai no renga over a period of thirty years, written primarily through the mail and more recently, email.  They are Pat Nolan, Keith Kumasen Abbott, Michael Sowl and Maureen Owen. The Miner School’s haikai have been published in numerous magazine including Hanging Loose, Exquisite Corpse, Jack’s Magazine, Big Bridge, and Simply Haiku as well as in limited edition chapbooks and broadsides from Empty Head Press, Bamboo Leaf Studio, and Tangram Press.  Their kasen, All Ears, was included in Saints Of Hysteria, an anthology celebrating collaboration, from Soft Skull Press (2007).   

One of the unique features of Miner School haikai is that it includes a running commentary by the authors on each of their own stanzas as well as a stab at their collaborators’ links.  It functions in a way similar to commentary provided as a special features audio track on a DVD.  The introductory essay to another kasen, Bamboo Greeting, published in Simply Haiku (2008), further details some of the unconventional methods practiced by The Miner School of Haikai Poets.  

Haikai no renga is a form of renga (Japanese linked verse) practiced by Basho (1644-1694) and his disciples.  It consists of a 17 syllable verse and a 14 syllable verse provided in turn by the poets engaged in the collaboration.  In linking verses, a 31 syllable poem is produced, the latter verse of which (the 17 or the 14 syllable) will go on to join the next in the sequence to form its own unique poem, and so on until the requisite number of stanzas has been achieved.  Renga sequences can number into the hundreds.  Basho favored the economy of 36 stanzas.  Renku is diminutive for haikai no renga also known as haikai.  The more renowned Japanese verse form, haiku, is derived from the practice of amassing numerous hokku to vie for the privilege of opening a moon-viewing-sake-sipping evening of friendly literary collaborations.   Renga itself is derived from the courtly form of poetry exchanged by the aristocracy as exemplified in Lady Murasaki’s 11th Century The Tale Of Genji.  The rules of the composition for renga and haikai no renga are complicated and arcane, but like those of chess or go can be captivating and stimulating.  

For more on the intriguing subject of Japanese Linked Verse, see Earl Miner’s Japanese Linked Poetry (Princeton, 1979), Hiroaki Sato’s One Hundred Frogs (Weatherhill, 1983), and Haruo Shirane’s Traces Of Dreams (Stanford, 1998). 

A pdf facsimile of RandomRocks 2007can be found here.

 

 

 

 

Terms, Conditions & Categories

Crime Fiction, Fiction, Limited Editions, Modern Poetry, Non-fiction, Poetry, Western, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Nualláin − (pronounced Noo-al-ayne) Celtic for the family name, Nolan, meaning noble or famous.  The Irish writer Brian O’Nualláin was also known as Brian O’Nolan, as well as by his most famous pseudonym, Flann O’Brien, author of At Swim-Two-Birds, The Third Policeman and The Dalkey Archives.
House – a business organization of like minded folk, kindred in their interest in the creative, bringing together years of experience in writing, self-publishing, book design, and book selling under one roof, peaked, in the shape of an open book (see logo on the masthead).
Publishers – a business or profession intent on making available literature of a particular genre, be it fiction, poetry or non-fiction, and often entered into more for personal satisfaction than financial gain.  The year 2011 marked the centennial of Brian O’Nualláin’s birth, a fitting beginning for Nualláin House, Publishers, and the publication of ON THE ROAD TO LAS CRUCES, A Novel Account of The Last Day In The Life of A Legendary Western Lawman by Pat Nolan (November, 2011).  Nualláin House, Publishers, will proceed on the assumption that what appeals to the editors might well appeal to other reasonably literate, intellectually curious readers.
Fiction – that which is made up, imaginatively, under the assumptions of possibility more than its probability irrespective of the truth; in short, fanciful lies.  Under the heading of fanciful lies, coming soon: THE LAST RESORT, A Lee Malone Adventure by Pat Nolan (August, 2012).
Poetry – the evil of banality.
Non-Fiction – not fiction.
Whimsy – capricious, eccentric, unpredictable and erratic (see Quirky).
Quirky – an abrupt twist or curve, idiosyncratic (see Whimsy).
Future – that which has the potential of occurring but has yet to occur and which will come to pass through the present however at a point in time yet to be determined.  Or to repurpose Rabelais’ last words, the “vast perhaps.”  Future titles from Nualláin House, Publishers in the crime fiction/ neo-pulp genre include BLACK MASK, A Detective Story, A GOOD LOOKING CORPSE, GONE MISSING, and PH FACTOR.  Also under the “vast perhaps” heading, selected, collected poems, and limited editions.  All titles will eventually be issued as eBooks.  Blog posts of reviews, interviews and commentary by noted authors will be a feature of the Nualláin House, Publishers site as well.
eBooks – at present, the eBook format taxes the technologically challenged and DIY mentality of Nualláin House, Publishers’ production designer.  Suffice it to say, all titles will eventually be issued as eBooks (see Future).  In the meantime, pdf files of sample chapters and limited edition poetry books will be made available on a regular basis with the compliments of Nualláin House, Publishers (see Future, Sample Chapters, and Limited Editions).
Comments – while this site encourages feedback, the comments feature has been disabled.  If readers wish to register feedback and/or commentary, their responses are more than welcome via email or snail mail (see Contact).
Manuscripts – unsolicited manuscripts are discouraged.
Contact – nuallainhousepublishers@gmail.com or Nualláin House, Publishers  Box 798 Monte Rio, CA 95462
Sample Chapters – sample chapters will be available as posts and as a feature of that title’s page.
Expectations – Great.  However, many years of experience in the literary world (see House) has demonstrated the need for caution in this category.
Facebook – Nualláin House, Publishers has a Facebook page.  Tell your Facebook friends.
Limited Editions – In the months to come (see Future), Nualláin House, Publishers will make available pdf files of rare and limited editions of poetry books from such presses as Re:Issue Press, On The Fly Press, Last Cookie Press, Editions de Jacob, Bamboo Studio, Empty Head Press, Egret Moon, and Not My Hat Press featuring such titles as Fly By Night, Later, Carbon Data, Intellectual Pretensions, Thin Wings, Untouched By Rain, Ah Bolinas!, Exile In Paradise, and Jacks Or Better.
POS – the Nualláin House, Publishers site remains the primary point of sale.  Titles are available at their advertised price plus $5 shipping & handling.  Institutional, bookstore, and cash discounts are available upon inquiry.  Orders can be placed through email or via the postal address (see Contact).  Make checks or money orders payable to ‘Pat Nolan.’
Copyright – all material on the Nualláin House, Publishers site is copyright © byNualláin House, Publishers or by its specific authors and may not be used or reproduced without the express permission of the copyright holder.

 

 

 

 

 

ON THE ROAD TO LAS CRUCES

Fiction, Western, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

ON THE ROAD TO LAS CRUCES; Being A Novel Account of The Last Day In The Life of A Legendary Western Lawman

by Pat Nolan

Available Now from Nualláin House, Publishers  Box 798 Monte Rio, CA 95462   $16.99 + $5.00 shipping and handling

Pat Nolan’s first published novel, On The Road To Last Cruces; Being A Novel Account of The Last Day In The Life of A Legendary Western Lawman is the story of youthful bravado and an old man’s regret, and as much a dusty tale of buffalo hunts and shoot-outs as a politically driven “whodunit.”

Steeped in the lore of Western radio dramas, cliff-hanging serials, B Oaters, pulp shoot-em ups, and a steady diet of prime-time horse operas, it seems only fitting that Pat Nolan would have distilled his adolescent exposure into a seminal prose of understatement.  The violence in a man’s life, linked by subtle segues, passes as something not particularly unusual.  The consequences are not always evident on a path drawn by blind fate.  Nor is the identity of the Western lawman immediately apparent, as is obviously the author’s intent.  For those familiar with gunfighter sagas, catching the drift will be easy.

Pat Nolan starts right off by telling us what is going to happen, he then lays out the circumstances to what is about to happen, and finally we are privy to the last moment and its irresolution. Along the way, when the tools of law include deadly force, there are bound to be killings.  However there are no showdowns, no heroics, no fancy horsemanship, no arduous adversity, merely pain and regret, bitterness and rancor, and the consequences of another misstep.  It is a tragedy that lends itself to allegory.  It is lament as well as praise for a misunderstood legend of the Southwest.

            On The Road To Las Cruces is a work of fiction tethered loosely to historical fact.  It is the story of the relationship between two men, one garrulous, the other taciturn, the Mutt and Jeff of the old Southwest, and the tradition of storytelling and the authoring of ‘true’ accounts.  What is related on the road to Las Cruces is as much a retelling of some history as it is how such a retelling might come about, and is represented in the manner of a tall tale, the deadpan details of a crime story, melodrama, and a conspiracy to murder.

November, 2011 ~ $16.99 ~ 154 pages ~  978-0-9840310-1-6

Sample Chapters On The Road To Las Cruces Chapter 6  On The Road To Las Cruces Chapter 21   Author’s Note                       

“. . . a real old-fashioned Western.  Page-turner.  There are all sorts of funny sly mixes in the story, good Nolan humor, great repartee. . . .”
– Andrei Codrescu, NPR commentator and author of Whatever Gets You Through The Night.

“Pat Nolan is not only one of our finest living poets. . . but now surprises with a prose paean to the West.  Whatever Pat writes deserves to be read and remembered.”
– Barry Gifford, author of Wild At Heart and Sailor And Lula               

“. . . delight in the narrative style.  [T]ruly vivid. . . .  The book is damn good.”
– Eric Johnson, poet and master printer, Iota Press

“Pat Nolan has added a fresh chapter to our Western lore with this fine, crackling tale.”
– Bart Schneider, author of Nameless Dame and The Man In The Blizzard

“On the Road to Las Cruces takes us on a twilight journey through frontier history.  Nolan’s adroit and stylish prose intertwines death, betrayal, greed and conspiracy as each claims its victims.”
– Keith Abbott, author of Downstream From Trout Fishing In America