New from bruin Books

Last Chance/First Chance. Lucky Lantz may be at the end of his rope, but he’s swinging that rope as hard as he can. Returning to his hometown after a long recovery in a sanitarium for TB, he has one last chance to step away from death’s door and squeeze in some more living—quiet, restrained living with no booze, gambling, or jam sessions. A lifetime of playing jazz music in smoky honky-tonks across the Midwest has left him a wash-up alcoholic . . . and a “lunger.” He’s come  home to pay off a few debts, collect on a few debts, and settle into his new prosaic life as a cobbler’s apprentice. He realizes, though, that he is not ready to give up on who he is—on what’s in his heart. Taking one last bold chance, Lucky dives back into the music scene that has always been his life's blood and his downfall. But can he beat the odds this time? Can he push back against dirty cops, small-town hoodlums, big-time gangsters and corporate sharks? Lucy’s winning streak is about to bore a hole through the underbelly of 1950’s Madison. Ultimately a humane novel about family and emotional debts, it is also a homage to the fading days of Dixieland jazz and a lost era that still comes alive in the remembered music.

IT IS THE DREAM of every small-press publisher to rediscover a lost masterpiece and shine a light on it. Vardis Fisher’s Dark Bridwell is that wish fulfilled. This neglected gem demands a second life, and like all great books it must be taken on its own terms. It stands alone as a searing work of art. It needs to be read, studied, taught and talked about with the same reverence as the other cornerstones of American literature: Huckleberry Finn, The Great Gatsby, and A Farewell to Arms. The novel is the lost masterwork of a shamefully forgotten author who created an astounding canon of work. Our hope is to bring the name of Vardis Fisher back into the lexicon of great American authors. 

The 1930’s was an auspicious decade for Vardis Fisher. His creative genius appeared early in his writing career. After a handful of highly autobiographical novels he was widely compared to Thomas Wolfe (his dear friend and colleague), Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner. Writing for The New York Times Book Review in 1937, Fredrick Manfred declared that Dark Bridwell is “one of the ten great novels in all of American Literature.” 

Dark Bridwell drew widespread praise when it appeared during the depression years. The novel captured the rousing spirit of the independent souls who settled one of the few remaining frontiers of the American west - the Idaho territory. The portrayal of these struggling farmers and ranchers was handled with lyrical beauty and heart-felt humor, but they were also presented with cruel frankness, despair and loss. Love and hate are never far apart. 

A cause for celebration, Dark Bridwell is now back in print after many decades. 

 Round the World in Seven Days is a rollicking adventure tale that harkens back to the time when reading a good book was the primary source of entertainment. While on leave from the fleet, Lt. Smith learns that his father and brother have shipwrecked in the Solomon Islands and their crew is in danger of being captured by cannibals. They must be saved. It’s a matter of life and death. Smith is already in trouble with his squadron commander for some earlier misadventures, but he doesn’t hesitate to take advantage of his seven days of vacation from the fleet. He recruits his closest ally, Rodier, an extraordinary engine mechanic and feisty Frenchman. Together they “borrow” an aeroplane and set off on a wondrous and seemingly impossible quest round the world. Strang’s novel is a homage to Jules Verne and captures the pure exuberance of reading a smashing story.