Monday, April 11, 2011

Out from Otoliths — Spider Face, stories by Kevin Rabas


Spider Face
Kevin Rabas
56 pages
Otoliths, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-9808785-1-6
$11.75 + p&h
URL: http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/spider-face/15313240

Kevin Rabas' language flits between narrative and poetry to bring these characters—and their struggles with youth, love and identity—to life. Sweet and heartbreaking at the same time, the stories in Spider Face leave indelible images long after you close the book. —Jen McConnell, author of Welcome Anybody

Spider Face is a collection of true images that linger in the place between memories and dreams. Kevin Rabas dresses the dramas of mental health and sensuality, self-destruction and loyalty, grief and social status, in a veil of constant discoveries that dance translucent around each story. These are all moments of heat and passion, whether that is passion of belief, passion of music or passion of flesh, that are concentrated examples of how everyday experiences create who a person is, and, in turn, how a person creates themselves through those same events. —Matthew Porubsky, author of voyeur poems

That Kevin Rabas is a fierce new talent was already clear from his two previous books of poetry. Now, in this collection of short fiction, he reveals himself a writer of great breadth and ability. These brief tales reveal an accomplished poet’s eye in images that startle with their beauty and precision and a storyteller’s sense for character and dramatic arc. In mimimal, sometimes snapshot-like stories that dazzle like flashbulbs with their sudden radiance, Rabas explores the tumults of sex and youth, love and the body, violence and art. His range of artistic gifts as a poet, photographer and jazz musician serve him—and his readers—well, and establish him as a writer of fiction to watch and enjoy. —Tasha Haas, author of Certain Dawn, Inevitable Dawn
The full catalog of Otoliths books can be found at The Otoliths Storefront.

No comments: