Anywhere but Here...

by Dallas Angguish

The stories included in Anywhere But Here share common eccentricity, displacement, and the author's own sense of being an outsider, an observer of the unique and myriad forms of self-expression. These stories are a mixture of travel tale, memoir and fiction. They range in setting from the Deep South of the United States to Prague and London in Europe and locations in North Eastern Australia. The stories are sometimes factual, sometimes purely fiction but more often than not are an enigmatic blending of the two. The principle character of these stories is Angguish himself, whose own eccentricity and idiosyncratic powers of observation make for a delightful read that is at times funny, sometimes erotic or sombre and often quirky.

228 pages, Paperback

First published February 21, 2006

Reviews

[Prue Range · Rating 5 out of 5]

As the book blurb says: "the stories included in Anywhere But Here share common themes: eccentricity, displacement, and the author's own sense of being an outsider, an observer of the unique and myriad forms of self-expression."

These travel stories are a mixture of travel treportage, memoir and fiction. They range in setting from the Deep South of the USA to Europe and Australia. The stories are hard to categorise as they seem to be part fact, part fiction and sometimes a mixture of both. I like this blending very much as it brings out a lot of atmospheric detail that pure reporting wouldn't be able to convey.

For me, the principle character of these stories is Angguish himself, whose own eccentricity and idiosyncratic powers of observation make for a delightful read that is at times funny, sometimes erotic or sombre and often quirky.

Angguish is what you'd get if Victor Frankenstein made a new monster by splicing together body parts of David Sedaris, Truman Capote, Bruce Chatwin and just a bit of Djuna Barnes.

This is a great book, as is his latest release "America Divine". Check out the author's webpage: www.dallasangguish.com