Train Stops: Stories,Used

About the AuthorBorn in Los Angeles, California, Larry Frank graduated from the University of California Berkeley in English literature and philosophy and traveled in Europe and India before enrolling at UCLA's cinema school. He wrote, directed, and produced educational films and a fictional feature that won an Edinburgh Film Festival award. After locating in northern New Mexico, Larry Frank studied Native American cultures and Spanish Colonial art, researching and collecting materials from both cultures for over forty years. He wrote a major book on New Mexico santos, The New Kingdom of the Saints. He lectured on santos at Stanford University, Roswell Museum, the University of New Mexico, and St. John's College Santa Fe in conjunction with an exhibit of his collection. Author of Historic Pottery of the Pueblo Indians and Indian Silver Jewelry of the Southwest, Frank also cowrote A Land So Remote, a three volume set featuring Religious Art of New Mexico (17801907) and Wooden Artifacts of Frontier New Mexico (1700s1900s). Frank is also the author of Fragments of a Mask, a novel; and two collections of poems, Siftings and Burst Afresh, all from Sunstone Press. His landmark collection of Native American and Spanish religious iconography is now part of the permanent collection of the State of New Mexico at the Palace of Governors, in Santa Fe. Married to the wellknown artist, Alyce Frank, they raised three children, Ross, Melissa, and Chad. Larry Frank died peacefully at home and in his sleep while napping on August 7, 2006.Product DescriptionAs a train moves from station to station, its passengers glimpse different worlds of people along the way, displayed in a rich texture of life. Passing scenes are etched on the viewer's heart and mind. In much the same way, the diverse stories in this exciting collection present humor, surprise, poignancy, the mystery of the dark side of human nature, and the many turns and twists of our lives that never seem to end as we expect. We find a devoted teacher about to face the experience of her life as she anticipates the arrival of a dear friend. There are two lovers who discover that their commitment to each other is threatened by the danger that engulfs them. Then there is the wild quarry relentlessly pursued by a determined rancher with unexpected results. Building his fragile empire of art, a wily museum director and his wife miscalculate. And an intense boy embarks on a riteofpassage through a twilight zone of horror and destruction. These and the other stories are a compelling and memorable ride through the realm of the author's imagination.From Publishers WeeklyAbout as subtle as a runaway train, the 21 stories of this debut?from an expert on New Mexican folk art?barrel through the author's vaunted home turf, an L.A. childhood and later life in the Southwest, toward a series of platitudinous climaxes. A few interesting scenes appear along the way and vanish just as quickly. In 'The Master,' the best?and darkest?story, a young boy discovers his gift as a hunter and repeatedly disobeys his parents to search the woods for ever larger prey; yet this story ends with an unfortunately hokey payback. 'Black and White,' the tale of a museum director who trades from the collection to improve it, is emotionally believable, but the premise that the acquisitions board is inexplicably liquidated for a year and then reconvened is absurd. In the title story, a woman on a train fleeing her frumpy husband finds him waiting at the end of the line and magically (comically) relieved of all his previous failings. Endings are abrupt, epiphanies facile, dialogue burdened with exposition and prose irredeemably clumsy, with a table 'resonating beauty' and a character whose 'languor was due to fragile health.'Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.