Publisher Description
Best known for his glorious comic novels—including the American classic True Grit—Charles Portis was also a prolific essayist, travel writer, and newspaper reporter. Now, for the first time, these writings—journalism, short fiction, memoir, travel stories, and even a play—have been brought together in Escape Velocity: A Charles Portis Miscellany. The collection encompasses the breadth of Portis’s fifty-year writing career, covering topics as varied as road tripping in Baja, Elvis’s visits to his aging mother, and his own boyhood in Arkansas. Also included in Escape Velocity are Portis’s three-act play Delray’s New Moon, “Damn!” a rare short story from 1957, and tributes by Donna Tartt, Wells Tower, Ron Rosenbaum, Ed Park, and Roy Blount Jr. While fans of Charles Portis’s sly and distinctive humor, quirky characters, and keen ear for detail will be thrilled at this new addition to their libraries, Escape Velocity will also serve as an essential introduction to those not yet familiar with his work.
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About Charles Portis
Charles Portis (1933–2020) was an American author best known for his classic Western True Grit and the novel Norwood, both of which were made into major motion pictures. He served in the US Marine Corps during the Korean War and then attended the University of Arkansas. As a reporter, he wrote for the New York Herald Tribune and was also its London bureau chief. His first novel, Norwood, was published in 1966 and True Grit in 1968. His other novels include Masters of Atlantis, The Dog of the South, and Gringos.
About the Narrators
Susan Bennett, Earphones Award-winning narrator, has enjoyed an extensive career as a vocal artist. She has worked with major agencies on such accounts as Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, AT&T, Blue Cross, Goodyear, and Club Med. She also dabbles in the music industry as the singer and keyboardist for The Interactive! Band. Along with her guitarist husband, Rick Hinkle, she is the co-owner of Audiocam Music, a full-service recording studio.
T. Ryder Smith is an American actor. A native of New York state and long-time resident of New York City, he has appeared frequently on stage, particularly in avant-garde theater works, and in film, sometimes as a voice actor.