Steppe: A Novel
John Weier
Thistledown Press Ltd.
$5.00
ISBN 1-895449-39-1
1995

Steppe: A Novel

This experimental novel redefines genre boundaries, explores the Ukrainian Mennonite experience, and contains a wealth of cultural allusions--from the Bolshevik Revolution to the spectral presence of pop cultural--that are woven into the skeletons of dream and reality.

Excerpt:

Onkel Jacob

On the third day, late in the evening, we were all in the big room in 
the house when they tried father. They arranged a table and chairs 
and everything looked like a proper trial. They all had bottles. Guilty, 
they said, of the crime of capital. And they shot father. I watched. 
It was clean and it was quick. Mother screamed, and they shot 
her. God is merciful. I thought I was next. I was a young man. I was
about to marry. Everything would have been mine. Surely they know 
this, I said.

And then I sprang. Before their eyes could hold me. I sprang through 
the window, glass clinking and pistols, and ran. I saw their torches 
behind me in the night. They never found me. In the daytime I lay 
in the water, in swamps and ditches. At night I walked. I was always 
in danger. . .
 

Friends Coming Back As Animals
John Weier
Published by Moonstone Press
ISBN 0-920259-61-8
$12.00
1996

Friends Coming Back As Animals

John Weier's versatility as a writer manifests itself again in his first collection of short stories. A talented storyteller with a varied background, he captures characters, situations, and landscapes with ease and brings them alive in a terse, tightly-structured style. His stories brim with emotion, and insight into the predicaments of his characters and the vicissitudes of human existence. Skilfully manipulating his narrative, he creates satisfying and engaging stories.

Excerpt:

A Shop in Bishop's Waltham

This is a true story. I can tell it now because Paul is dead. Gwen, 
his wife, is dead too. And Stanley. Doris is far too old by now to 
read. And Mick,Mick would never read anyway, his hands are too 
dirty, he'll be busy with his races and his motorcycles. These things 
all happened far away, and almost thirty years ago, when I was 
working with Paul in his shop. I was a young man then, and had 
a young family. That was the first time I lived without them. I hadn't  
imagined that anything could be so difficult.

I heard about Paul from a friend and wrote to ask if I could work with 
him for a while. Paul had a shop in Bishop's Waltham where he built and 
restored violins, sometimes he took on students. He wrote back to say 
yes and invited me for the summer. "You'll like it here in the summer," 
he said.  "Everything's green. . ."
 
 

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