Description
Blake and Jamie Ackerman grew up on the lip of a pinewood in Harmswood, Arkansas. Raised by an alcoholic mother and a Vietnam-War veteran uncle, they have grown up believing in gods beyond the chicken wire fence that steal children from their beds. After an accident in the pines that leaves Blake blind in one eye, the boys’ lives change. They grow up and drift apart until the memories of their childhood force the contents of Blake’s blind spot out into the light.
“A sort of scrapbook of place magic. Almost told by ecology itself, The Smoke is Me, Burning has a reliable cyclical power that is often the mark of good art.”
-Jonathan McAloon, journalist for the BBC, The Guardian, and TLS
“The lore, the blood mythology, the whole thing crackling with meaning, insight, lyric energy.”
-Eoin McNamee, author of Resurrection Man, Orchid Blue, and The Blue Tango
“The Smoke is me, Burning continues the Southern Gothic tradition while re-imagining it at the same time. Themes made familiar by William Faulkner, Cormac McCarthy and William Gay run through the narrative, but they are transformed by Blintzios’ language and the singularity of his vision. From the first scene to the last, this is a compelling novel, one that will haunt a reader the way the gods haunt the ill-fated brothers.”
– Patrick Parks, author of Tucumcari
