Fly Stone, Fly -

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Résumé :
A boy, his dog and a monstrous friend. First Place Winner for Horror in the Firebird Book Awards. First Runner-Up for General Fiction in the San Francisco Book Festival. Silver Medal for Dark Fantasy, Global Book Awards. Bronze Medal for Dark Fantasy, Bookfest Book Awards. Finalist for Fiction-Fantasy, American Writing Awards. For fans of Jones's Indian Lake Trilogy, Ellison's A Boy and His Dog, Shakespeare's Hamlet, and the 1100's folktale Ysengrimus -- this literary Western Gothic novel from debut author Dust Kunkel builds a new mythos for the 21st Century where descendants of the first giant-killer wield a magical axe that convenes gods and monsters alike. 16-year old Clayton Stonefly (retelling the story to his dog, Dammit) has no idea who he is -- his parents hid him in the Idaho wilderness and spoke in riddles about his past. When he is thrust on a journey to revenge his father's murder and name the monster that shadows his every move, he finds out much more than he ever wanted. Clayton Stonefly, who lost his parents four years ago and is being raised by his Granma Lina, just wants to be brave like Dammit, his dog, and face the town bully, Big Jim. That, or read Shakespeare on the porch alone in the Idaho wilderness. But Clay has an unfortunate gift: he's haunted by monstrous dreams of his family's dead nemesis, Das Ungeheuer, and every time he tells a story, someone dies. That - and he just watched his friend, MK, suck the soul out of a man, leaving the man clawing at his chest. Clay learns that his parents kept many secrets from him - not the least being there's a family calling that involves monster-wrangling, and a family axe with a mind of its own that may or may not be trying to talk to him. If you like Dark Fantasy and Magical Realism - if you love dogs and riddles, folktales and Shakespeare, coming of age stories and the rivers and mountains of the West - then you'll enjoy this Naturalist Western Gothic. ...

Biographie:
Dust Kunkel grew up in Ghana, West Africa. With a mother from Montana and a father from Oregon, he returned to the Pacific Northwest at age seventeen and fell in love with a Northwest girl and the rivers, mountains and canyons of the Northwest. Over the years he has taught literature, guided the Salmon River in Idaho, foster parented teenagers, managed outdoor schools, and directed student leadership programs at a university. Dust has a BA in Literature, an MSc in Outdoor Education from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and is an Executive Coach. Dust and his wife, Jan, live in Oregon City, Oregon, and have two daughters launched from the nest, and two elderly retriever-mixes, Bowie and Percy, who will not launch from any nest. In his free time, Dust reads, goes on adventures with Jan, writes and performs songs and fly-fishes the rivers of the Pacific Northwest....

Sommaire:
The magical tale of a boy, his dog and a monstrous friend. If by magical, you mean the boy tells the story to his dog, the dog talks back, and the friend is a snarky, Shakespeare-quoting failure of a monster. Clayton Stonefly just wants to be brave like Dammit, his dog, and protect Granma from the town bully. But Clay has an unfortunate gift: every time he tells a story, someone dies. Clay just watched his friend, MK, suck the soul out of a man, leaving the man clawing at his chest. Is MK really a friend? Or something much worse? Clay's long-lost parents kept many secrets - and he's finding them out one by one: A family 'calling' that involves monster-wrangling. A family axe with a mind of its own that may or may not be trying to talk to him. A family nemesis, Big Jim, intent on destroying them all. A family curse he can't seem to escape. Fly Stone, Fly is for anyone who loves Granmas, folktales and the beauty of Western America. And Shakesbear. That's right, Shakesbear. It's also for anyone who's ever been loved by a dog. If Faulkner wrote fantasy, he'd have written something like this... unique, lyrical, and steeped in Americana folklife. --Sunyi Dean, author of The Book Eaters...