John Mort – författare

Down Along the Piney is John Mort's fourth short-story collection and winner of the Richard Sullivan Prize in Short Fiction. With settings in Florida, California, Mexico, Chicago, the Texas Panhandle, and, of course, the Ozarks themselves, these thirteen stories portray the unsung, amusing, brutal, forever hopeful lives of ordinary people. Mort chronicles the struggles of "flyover" people who live not just in the Midwest, but anywhere you can find a farm, small town, or river winding through forested hills. Mort, whose earlier stories have appeared in the New Yorker, GQ, and The Chicago Tribune, is the author of the award-winning Vietnam War novel Soldier in Paradise, as well as Goat Boy of the Ozarks and The Illegal. These ironic, unflaggingly honest stories will remind the reader of Jim Harrison, Sherwood Anderson, and Shirley Jackson.

Down Along the Piney is John Mort's fourth short-story collection and winner of the Richard Sullivan Prize in Short Fiction. With settings in Florida, California, Mexico, Chicago, the Texas Panhandle, and, of course, the Ozarks themselves, these thirteen stories portray the unsung, amusing, brutal, forever hopeful lives of ordinary people. Mort chronicles the struggles of "flyover" people who live not just in the Midwest, but anywhere you can find a farm, small town, or river winding through forested hills. Mort, whose earlier stories have appeared in the New Yorker, GQ, and The Chicago Tribune, is the author of the award-winning Vietnam War novel Soldier in Paradise, as well as Goat Boy of the Ozarks and The Illegal. These ironic, unflaggingly honest stories will remind the reader of Jim Harrison, Sherwood Anderson, and Shirley Jackson.

Silver Medal for the 2023 Will Rogers Medallion AwardNamed a 2022 Great Group Reads In late fall of 1892 outlaw Eddie Mole gallops down the main street of Jericho Springs, Kansas, where he robs and shoots dead the freighter Barney Kreider. Some urge Barney’s son Ulysses (“Euly”) to take revenge, but Euly is a Mennonite and Mennonites don’t seek revenge. Instead, Euly plots how to make his fortune with the aid of his half-Osage sister, Kate, and his friend Johnny, an Osage farmhand. The three make a plan to sell goods and livestock to the settlers converging on Caldwell, Kansas, for the land run going on in the Cherokee Outlet. When Johnny tracks Eddie into the Cherokee Outlet, he witnesses Buffalo Soldiers evicting Eddie from a ranch, leaving it public domain, and Johnny and Kate make the run for that beautiful land. Euly follows close behind, even as Eddie, riding from Arkansas City, tries to reclaim his old ranch.John Mort’s narrative is an anti-revenge novel-always opting for nonviolence. But there’s violence nevertheless, as Eddie’s and Barney’s survivors converge in a rousing finish. Though this novel uses some of the architecture and motifs of traditional westerns, it is carefully researched and set in the unfolding of a pivotal, neglected historical event.

Assist readers in their book selections with this guide, which covers titles spanning the entire spectrum of the Western genre—from such classics as those written by Zane Grey, Louis L'Amour, and Max Brand to traditional novels by Elmer Kelton and contemporary novels of the West by Annie Proulx, Louise Erdrich, and Larry McMurtry. Mort describes and maps approximately 2000 titles, grouping them by subgenre and theme, and describing their features and plots. Also included are chapters on the history of the genre, six great authors of the genre, a Western timeline, information on resources and awards, and detailed indexes.Often overlooked or written off as a dying genre, the Western, in fact, holds great appeal for many readers today. While traditional Westerns have managed to retain a loyal cadre of fans, new followers have been drawn in by recent iterations of and new directions in the genre written by such authors as Larry McMurtry, Annie Proulx, Louise Erdrich, and Tabor Evans; as well as contemporary authors writing in the traditional vein, such as Elmer Kelton. Westerns are also thriving within the flourishing Christian fiction genre.This guide, intended to help you assist readers in their book (and film) selections, covers the entire spectrum of the Western, describing and mapping the genre—from classics that are still enjoyed by dedicated readers to more contemporary and literary novels of the West that feature the alluring themes of freedom, individualism, and moral regeneration set against the magnificent backdrop of the Western landscape. By grouping titles by subgenre and theme, and describing their features and plots, the book guides users to similar titles and read-alikes. Young adult and adult. Grades 10 and up.Mort takes a broad historical perspective, covering the Western from its origins in the 19th century to today. Selections represent the best and most popular titles as well as those commonly available in libraries. Chapters focus on past giants of the genre (Zane Grey, Louis L'Amour, Max Brand) as well as on current subgenres and themes such as Christian Westerns, Sagas, Western Romance, Western Mysteries, Young Adult Westerns, Native Americans, and Mountain Men. Western films, so integral to the evolution of the genre, are annotated in a separate chapter. Approximately 2,000 titles are covered, about 250 of them films. Coverage of books is broad and thorough; coverage of films is selective. In addition, there are a brief history of the genre, a Western timeline, information on resources and awards, and author/title, subject and geographic indexes. This is the definitive resource on the Western genre, and an essential readers' advisory and reference tool.

John Mort's compelling first novel embodies both the Vietnam combat experience and the sad aftermath for those who underwent it. Alternating between "e;stateside"e; chapters after the war and the Vietnam chapters dramatizing it, the novel creates a tension back and forth in time as well as geography. We participate in the trauma of combat in crisp and authentic detail, and we witness the effect of that experience on "e;Irish"e; Donnelly, a bookish, reluctant soldier, and his fellow infantrymen in the jungles and mountains of Vietnam. Transcending any "e;political"e; focus, Soldier in Paradise dramatically renders the alienation of Vietnam veterans, ordinary men who've had an extra burden to bear because of the protracted, brutish character of an unpopular war that never came to a satisfactory end.

These twelve stories reflect the combat infantry experience of the Vietnam War--in the gritty "e;Tanks,"e; "e;Called of God,"e; and "e;Incubation Period."e; There's also the woman's perspective of Arlene, a naive Red Cross volunteer or "e;Doughnut Dolly,"e; in "e;A Man's World."e; Mort captures veterans' experiences in "e;Rest Stop,"e; a woeful, divorced man's tale; "e;Hallelujah By and By,"e; a dark, almost supernatural story set in the Arkansas Ozarks; and "e;Behind Enemy Lines,"e; the story of a homeless, damaged man who at last finds his way home. All but two of these stories were previously published in such magazines as GQ and the MISSOURI REVIEW, or in the collection, TANKS. Mort served with the First Cavalry in 1969 and 1970, near Tay Ninh, as an RTO.

In late fall of 1892 outlaw Eddie Mole gallops down the main street of Jericho Springs, Kansas, where he robs and shoots dead the freighter Barney Kreider. Some urge Barney's son Ulysses ("e;Euly"e;) to take revenge, but Euly is a Mennonite and Mennonites don't seek revenge. Instead, Euly plots how to make his fortune with the aid of his half-Osage sister, Kate, and his friend Johnny, an Osage farmhand. The three make a plan to sell goods and livestock to the settlers converging on Caldwell, Kansas, for the land run going on in the Cherokee Outlet. When Johnny tracks Eddie into the Cherokee Outlet, he witnesses Buffalo Soldiers evicting Eddie from a ranch, leaving it public domain, and Johnny and Kate make the run for that beautiful land. Euly follows close behind, even as Eddie, riding from Arkansas City, tries to reclaim his old ranch.