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Quantum Physics and the Art of Departure
GOLD MEDAL WINNER, 2012 INDEPENDENT PUBLISHERS BOOK AWARDSA championship basketball coach caught between his team, his family and the rabid partisans in his town. A traveling salesman consigned to a late-night bus ride. A prison inmate stripped of everything but his pride. A teenage runaway. Mismatched lovers. In his debut collection of short fiction, award-winning novelist Craig Lancaster (600 Hours of Edward, The Summer Son) returns to the terrain of his Montana home and takes on the notion of separation in its many forms - from comfort zones, from ideas, from people, from security, from fears. These ten stories delve into small towns and big cities, into love and despair, into what drives us and what scares us, peeling back the layers of our humanity with every page.
- GenresShort StoriesFiction
248 pages, Paperback
First published August 13, 2011
11 people are currently reading
210 people want to read
About the author
Craig Lancaster
29 books427 followersWhen Craig Lancaster moved to Montana in 2006, at the age of 36, it was the realization of a dream he’d harbored since childhood, one that he figured had been overtaken by events, as so many dreams are.
“I have these incredibly vivid memories of visiting Montana with my folks on family vacations, and following my dad, an itinerant laborer who worked in the oil and gas fields of the West when I was a kid,” Lancaster says. “It was such a vast, beautiful, overwhelming place. From the first time I saw Montana, I wanted to be a part of it.”
Craig was born on February 9th, 1970, in Lakewood, Washington. Adopted at birth, he grew up in suburban Fort Worth, Texas, with his mother and stepfather and siblings. His stepfather, Charles Clines, was a longtime sportswriter at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, a connection that led to Craig’s career as a journalist, a profession he followed to a series of newspaper jobs across the country — Texas, Alaska, Kentucky, Ohio, Washington, California and, finally, Montana.
A couple of years after Craig’s arrival in the Big Sky State, he began chasing another long-held dream: that of writing novels. His first completed novel, 600 Hours of Edward, was born in the crucible of National Novel Writing Month, that every-November free-for-all of furious writing. He completed an entire first draft, nearly 80,000 words, in November 2008. In October 2009, it was published by Riverbend Publishing of Helena, Montana, and has since gone on to be selected as a Montana Honor Book and a High Plains Book Award winner.
His follow-up, The Summer Son, was released in January 2011 by AmazonEncore, to similar acclaim. Booklist called the new novel “a classic western tale of rough lives and gruff, dangerous men, of innocence betrayed and long, stumbling journeys to love.”
Lancaster’s work delves deeply below the surface of its characters, teasing out the desires and motivations that lead us through our lives.
“It’s all too easy to turn people into caricatures, but the truth is, we humans are pretty damned fascinating,” he says. “For me, fiction is a way at getting at truth. I use it to examine the world around me, the things that disturb me, the questions I have about life — whether my own or someone else’s. My hope is that someone reading my work will have their own emotional experience and bring their own thoughts to what they read on the page. When I’m asked what my stories mean, my inclination is turn the question around: What do they mean to you?”
“I have these incredibly vivid memories of visiting Montana with my folks on family vacations, and following my dad, an itinerant laborer who worked in the oil and gas fields of the West when I was a kid,” Lancaster says. “It was such a vast, beautiful, overwhelming place. From the first time I saw Montana, I wanted to be a part of it.”
Craig was born on February 9th, 1970, in Lakewood, Washington. Adopted at birth, he grew up in suburban Fort Worth, Texas, with his mother and stepfather and siblings. His stepfather, Charles Clines, was a longtime sportswriter at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, a connection that led to Craig’s career as a journalist, a profession he followed to a series of newspaper jobs across the country — Texas, Alaska, Kentucky, Ohio, Washington, California and, finally, Montana.
A couple of years after Craig’s arrival in the Big Sky State, he began chasing another long-held dream: that of writing novels. His first completed novel, 600 Hours of Edward, was born in the crucible of National Novel Writing Month, that every-November free-for-all of furious writing. He completed an entire first draft, nearly 80,000 words, in November 2008. In October 2009, it was published by Riverbend Publishing of Helena, Montana, and has since gone on to be selected as a Montana Honor Book and a High Plains Book Award winner.
His follow-up, The Summer Son, was released in January 2011 by AmazonEncore, to similar acclaim. Booklist called the new novel “a classic western tale of rough lives and gruff, dangerous men, of innocence betrayed and long, stumbling journeys to love.”
Lancaster’s work delves deeply below the surface of its characters, teasing out the desires and motivations that lead us through our lives.
“It’s all too easy to turn people into caricatures, but the truth is, we humans are pretty damned fascinating,” he says. “For me, fiction is a way at getting at truth. I use it to examine the world around me, the things that disturb me, the questions I have about life — whether my own or someone else’s. My hope is that someone reading my work will have their own emotional experience and bring their own thoughts to what they read on the page. When I’m asked what my stories mean, my inclination is turn the question around: What do they mean to you?”
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
November 15, 2011
(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.)
As the 90 or so years of its existence is starting to show us more and more, perhaps the most lasting legacy of the academic short story is that it allows us to concentrate on character in such an intense way; stripped of its need to carry a strong plot like a full novel must, but still armed with the full power that literature has, the format seems to lend itself to penetrating looks at the human condition, exploring all the complicated facets that arise from sometimes very pedestrian situations. This is certainly the case, for example, with the new story collection Quantum Physics and the Art of Departure by Craig Lancaster, the author of last year's very affecting examination of the ins and outs of Asperger Syndrome, 600 Hours of Edward; because although little actually "happens" in the course of these stories, the events themselves are deliberately loaded for maximum effect, with Lancaster looking at how sometimes innocuous stimuli can have far-reaching consequences in the life of the average person, or at the very least can give us a much clearer view of the people around us as they react to it.
Take for example the best story in the book, also its first, "Somebody Has to Lose," which has a deliciously simple yet expansive conceit at its core: that the teenaged female basketball progeny of an otherwise unremarkable small town, so freakishly good that she was once featured on Johnny Carson as a young girl, has finally become old enough to join the high-school team, right in the same period when a once multiple-championship-winning coach is in the middle of a career-defining slump, all by coincidence happening during the town's 125th anniversary. It's certainly not a substantial enough idea to carry a whole novel; but under Lancaster's delicate style, it's the perfect milieu for exploring all kinds of interpersonal relationships that might arise from such a flashpoint -- the coach's relationship to his "sports widow" wife, his relationship with the town's overzealous boosters and local paper, his relationship with the teen athlete herself (and the athlete's relationship with the coach's teen daughter, itself more complicated than first assumed), etc.
Granted, not all the stories work this well -- one of the weaker entries, for example, "Alyssa Alights," is not much more than a simplistic Social Realist screed, as preachy and sentimentally manipulative as a forgotten 1930s WPA propaganda play -- but when they do work well, as they mostly do here, it's a real delight to inhabit Lancaster's lonely, darkly majestic Montana locations and desperate characters, a look at a slowly eroding 21st-century America that's as strong as many more well-known titles by major presses. It comes strongly recommended.
Out of 10: 8.5
As the 90 or so years of its existence is starting to show us more and more, perhaps the most lasting legacy of the academic short story is that it allows us to concentrate on character in such an intense way; stripped of its need to carry a strong plot like a full novel must, but still armed with the full power that literature has, the format seems to lend itself to penetrating looks at the human condition, exploring all the complicated facets that arise from sometimes very pedestrian situations. This is certainly the case, for example, with the new story collection Quantum Physics and the Art of Departure by Craig Lancaster, the author of last year's very affecting examination of the ins and outs of Asperger Syndrome, 600 Hours of Edward; because although little actually "happens" in the course of these stories, the events themselves are deliberately loaded for maximum effect, with Lancaster looking at how sometimes innocuous stimuli can have far-reaching consequences in the life of the average person, or at the very least can give us a much clearer view of the people around us as they react to it.
Take for example the best story in the book, also its first, "Somebody Has to Lose," which has a deliciously simple yet expansive conceit at its core: that the teenaged female basketball progeny of an otherwise unremarkable small town, so freakishly good that she was once featured on Johnny Carson as a young girl, has finally become old enough to join the high-school team, right in the same period when a once multiple-championship-winning coach is in the middle of a career-defining slump, all by coincidence happening during the town's 125th anniversary. It's certainly not a substantial enough idea to carry a whole novel; but under Lancaster's delicate style, it's the perfect milieu for exploring all kinds of interpersonal relationships that might arise from such a flashpoint -- the coach's relationship to his "sports widow" wife, his relationship with the town's overzealous boosters and local paper, his relationship with the teen athlete herself (and the athlete's relationship with the coach's teen daughter, itself more complicated than first assumed), etc.
Granted, not all the stories work this well -- one of the weaker entries, for example, "Alyssa Alights," is not much more than a simplistic Social Realist screed, as preachy and sentimentally manipulative as a forgotten 1930s WPA propaganda play -- but when they do work well, as they mostly do here, it's a real delight to inhabit Lancaster's lonely, darkly majestic Montana locations and desperate characters, a look at a slowly eroding 21st-century America that's as strong as many more well-known titles by major presses. It comes strongly recommended.
Out of 10: 8.5
September 5, 2011
This collection of short stories encompasses a wide range of content and emotion. Some made me stop and think, others made me laugh and a few made me sad. Each one kept me entertained from start to finish. I loved both of Lancaster's full-length novels and he has done a masterful job with this recent transition to short stories.
May 3, 2016
I've stated many times my reasons for avoiding short story compilations so I'll spare you the drum thumping here. Besides, this book doesn't feel like a compilation. Yes these ten stories are completely unique stand alone tales but they share a common thread--leaving. The method of leaving varies with each story. In broad strokes (with no real spoilers), there is walking out, moving away, moving on, suicide, and even murder. The one exception being the story of the retired NASA engineer who befriends a neighborhood kid whose airline pilot father dies in an heroic plane crash. Still, "leaving" is the subtext of this heart-warmer. The engineer is a recent widower and the kid's obviously lost a parent. Again, leaving binds these stories together.
What I enjoyed most about Lancaster's writing here is the seeming ease with which he breathes life into his main characters in such a short amount of time. Obviously, a short story writer, by necessity, must hit the ground running. There is no room for pages of Dickensian descriptions of the drapes, or waxing soliloquies on Philosophy, etc. There's only a brief opportunity to place a fully realized and sympathetic character into a compelling tale . Lancaster makes brilliant use of that time. His characters are three-dimensional. His stories rope you in.
And unless you speed read this entire book in a single sitting (possible, but foolish), you'll find a bit of time-release quality to both the characters and the stories themselves. The tragic choice of the well-driller once his estranged second wife finally returns home is a case in point. This story is perfectly drawn. It has occupied my frontal lobe vividly for several days now.
I recommend these stories--even to readers like me who previously avoided short stories. By the way, what lead me to this book was Lancaster's debut novel 600 Hours Of Edward. That book is worthy of it's own review so I'll not venture into my thoughts here. Suffice to say, it is one of my favorites.
Enjoy!
What I enjoyed most about Lancaster's writing here is the seeming ease with which he breathes life into his main characters in such a short amount of time. Obviously, a short story writer, by necessity, must hit the ground running. There is no room for pages of Dickensian descriptions of the drapes, or waxing soliloquies on Philosophy, etc. There's only a brief opportunity to place a fully realized and sympathetic character into a compelling tale . Lancaster makes brilliant use of that time. His characters are three-dimensional. His stories rope you in.
And unless you speed read this entire book in a single sitting (possible, but foolish), you'll find a bit of time-release quality to both the characters and the stories themselves. The tragic choice of the well-driller once his estranged second wife finally returns home is a case in point. This story is perfectly drawn. It has occupied my frontal lobe vividly for several days now.
I recommend these stories--even to readers like me who previously avoided short stories. By the way, what lead me to this book was Lancaster's debut novel 600 Hours Of Edward. That book is worthy of it's own review so I'll not venture into my thoughts here. Suffice to say, it is one of my favorites.
Enjoy!
September 17, 2011
From my review over at Self-Publishing Review:
"I’m happy to say Craig’s collection is not one of the latter. It’s definitely one of the better collections I’ve read in the last several years. And, really, even saying it’s great as a whole book isn’t doing it justice. There are some real gems in this collection, folks. When I read a collection, I can usually pinpoint a couple of favorites out of the mix. “The Hits,” in other words. With this book, I can’t do that, because they’re all that good.
I can’t choose between stories like “This is Butte. You Have Ten Minutes” and “Alyssa Alights,” or “She’s Gone” and “Comfort and Joy.” They’re all written from the heart, with characters that breathe on the page. They’re filled with people dealing with situations that we’ve all probably dealt with at one point or another. They never get tedious. They’re all evenly paced. Hell, the first story revolves around basketball, and I still enjoyed it. That’s saying something, because I am not a sports fan. At all.
I want to go into detail with you about these stories, but I can’t. The book jacket tells you about as much as it can without telling you too much. And, really, anything I could say here about these stories would not do them justice.
To sum up everything, Craig Lancaster’s put together a collection of stories that will break your heart, make you laugh, and lift you up again. These are the sort of stories I hope to write one day."
"I’m happy to say Craig’s collection is not one of the latter. It’s definitely one of the better collections I’ve read in the last several years. And, really, even saying it’s great as a whole book isn’t doing it justice. There are some real gems in this collection, folks. When I read a collection, I can usually pinpoint a couple of favorites out of the mix. “The Hits,” in other words. With this book, I can’t do that, because they’re all that good.
I can’t choose between stories like “This is Butte. You Have Ten Minutes” and “Alyssa Alights,” or “She’s Gone” and “Comfort and Joy.” They’re all written from the heart, with characters that breathe on the page. They’re filled with people dealing with situations that we’ve all probably dealt with at one point or another. They never get tedious. They’re all evenly paced. Hell, the first story revolves around basketball, and I still enjoyed it. That’s saying something, because I am not a sports fan. At all.
I want to go into detail with you about these stories, but I can’t. The book jacket tells you about as much as it can without telling you too much. And, really, anything I could say here about these stories would not do them justice.
To sum up everything, Craig Lancaster’s put together a collection of stories that will break your heart, make you laugh, and lift you up again. These are the sort of stories I hope to write one day."
March 29, 2013
I did not expect from a collection of short stories with such a title to be so profoundly moving, in one way or another. The ten stories in this book are insightful and intense snapshots of the human psyche; all of them with twists and turns and all of them connected with departures as a common thread. Most of them are sad, some of them even brutally dark, only one of them a bit funny, the last one uplifting.
The author is very good at developing authentic characters, some of whom I didn't like, but the author coaxed me to appreciate their flaws and honesty.
Each story made me stop and think, though there were two of them I couldn't relate to.
The author is very good at developing authentic characters, some of whom I didn't like, but the author coaxed me to appreciate their flaws and honesty.
Each story made me stop and think, though there were two of them I couldn't relate to.
October 10, 2011
If there are places in your soul that are best avoided, I would caution you that this book may take you there. Lancaster is masterful at coaxing you into a corner with his excellent characters, only to hold up a mirror and force you to see the commonality between men. While this is a collection - a genre oft devoted to leftovers - it does not disappoint. The author masterfully develops deep, rich personalities in just a few pages. So much so that I wish this were not a collection, but rather a series of trailers for books to come.
October 11, 2011
I'm usually cautious when it comes to literary fiction, but in this case I dove in with both feet. Ten stories, each one better than the last. I'd like to point to just one as a favourite, but it's impossible.
September 28, 2011
Wow! I would not of expected such a great book from such a strange title. I see now why the book is titled the way it is. Twist and turns everywhere.
August 14, 2012
This book of stories was amazing. They imbued all kinds of emotions and left me feeling inspired, happy and drained, sometimes all by the same story.
March 15, 2018
A light, easy read with well-written, flowing prose. I didn’t find any of the stories gripping, but I did like the device that none had a real ending. When I read the final paragraph of the first, I was disappointed that all the build up led to, “What? So what happens?” Then as I moved on to the next, I realized they were all going to be like that. So at the end of each story, the reader is left to ponder the possibilities and essentially write their own ending. That lack of closure may be disconcerting to some, but I thought it was pretty cool and definitely the highlight of the book for me.
March 13, 2012
From the very first story, I was completely drawn in. "Somebody Has to Lose", I felt sure, was going to be a Hoosiers-esque type of story where the coach overcomes small town disapproval over the treatment of the star basketball player and he leads the team to a state victory. A true feel-good ending. Oh, not so! Not at ALL! I was completely surprised, and even more surprised - and pleased - that the other short stories were the same in that I felt they were leading one direction, then I get yanked into the completely opposite direction.
Only one of the stories, "Comfort and Joy", turned out to be a feel-good story with a happy ending, because it was originally published as a stand-alone e-book sold with net proceeds donated to Feed America. (Per the author's acknowledgments at the end of the book.) The rest were rather dark and dismal, but all of them were human. Like the author, the stories were very honest and put out there to say "this is who I am. You may not like me, but what you see is what you get. I'm one hundred percent authentic."
It's true, too; there were characters I didn't "get", and didn't particularly like or relate to, but I appreciated their honesty and their flaws and their take on life. (The man with the Blackberry was consistently confronted by a hateful, angry wife; Diane was a self-absorbed shrew; Ross was a coward yearning after a different life on a parallel world; Gilchrist's choice of silent retaliation against his bosses led to a humiliating end to an otherwise good guy who only wanted to do his job right; Ben's story was absolutely heart-breaking but he should have manned up, moved on and kept the truth to himself - he sacrificed his brother's peace of mind for his own; Ross learned to take on the bullies and beat them, but Dwight never could find the courage to fight against Jill; Alyssa was lost in a dark world of cutting and death.)
This collection of short stories contains random snapshots of life where the characters don't have a chance to dress up and smile for the camera. It's a definite must read, and one I will happily recommend.
Only one of the stories, "Comfort and Joy", turned out to be a feel-good story with a happy ending, because it was originally published as a stand-alone e-book sold with net proceeds donated to Feed America. (Per the author's acknowledgments at the end of the book.) The rest were rather dark and dismal, but all of them were human. Like the author, the stories were very honest and put out there to say "this is who I am. You may not like me, but what you see is what you get. I'm one hundred percent authentic."
It's true, too; there were characters I didn't "get", and didn't particularly like or relate to, but I appreciated their honesty and their flaws and their take on life. (The man with the Blackberry was consistently confronted by a hateful, angry wife; Diane was a self-absorbed shrew; Ross was a coward yearning after a different life on a parallel world; Gilchrist's choice of silent retaliation against his bosses led to a humiliating end to an otherwise good guy who only wanted to do his job right; Ben's story was absolutely heart-breaking but he should have manned up, moved on and kept the truth to himself - he sacrificed his brother's peace of mind for his own; Ross learned to take on the bullies and beat them, but Dwight never could find the courage to fight against Jill; Alyssa was lost in a dark world of cutting and death.)
This collection of short stories contains random snapshots of life where the characters don't have a chance to dress up and smile for the camera. It's a definite must read, and one I will happily recommend.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 15, 2011
Quantum Physics and the Art of Departure by Craig Lancaster. Long title, good book. It’s a book of short stories which all have to do with departures. It probably has something to do with quantum physics, but that’s over my head. The stories, however, are not over my head.
Each one is compelling and very interesting. And each is different from the other.
I really like books that contain standalone stories, especially when there’s a connecting thread between them. Each story is so different, I, at first, thought it was an anthology written my multiple short story writers, but they are all the work of Craig Lancaster.
In addition to the stories being about departure, they’re also about relationships. That makes sense since most of life is about relationships. As we move through our life, we’re either creating relationships or breaking them. And the characters in Lancaster’s book do both in memorable ways.
I give Quantum Physics and the Art of Departure by Craig Lancaster a rating of Hel-of-a-Writer. Lancaster wrote an amazing collection of stories and did such a great job, I thought many different authors had written them.
Each one is compelling and very interesting. And each is different from the other.
I really like books that contain standalone stories, especially when there’s a connecting thread between them. Each story is so different, I, at first, thought it was an anthology written my multiple short story writers, but they are all the work of Craig Lancaster.
In addition to the stories being about departure, they’re also about relationships. That makes sense since most of life is about relationships. As we move through our life, we’re either creating relationships or breaking them. And the characters in Lancaster’s book do both in memorable ways.
I give Quantum Physics and the Art of Departure by Craig Lancaster a rating of Hel-of-a-Writer. Lancaster wrote an amazing collection of stories and did such a great job, I thought many different authors had written them.
August 1, 2015
I'm a huge fan of Craig Lancaster's. His Edward books are among my favorite reads in several years. But this collection of his short stories was a major disappointment to me. It wasn't up to what I expected of him. There was one really good one(the last one) and a couple that were mediocre. But the rest of them were a lot of sex, and blood and guts, which were more in keeping with pulp fiction.
August 7, 2013
Not usually a fan of short stories but gave this a go because I loved the Edward books and really enjoyed it. Written to the same high standard I found myself having the same empathy for the myriad of characters I have had in his other books. Craig Lancaster, write fast please, you always leave me wanting more :-)
December 30, 2013
I'm becoming a big fan of Craig Lancaster. I thought 800 Hours of Edward was very good and I looked forward to reading this book of short stories. Although the Edward book and it's sequel Edward Adrift were young adult books, these stores are more adult level reads. I love his characters, even the worst of them and he does a great job in the short-story format.
May 11, 2012
The author has put together a collection of short stories that continue to hauntingly reverberate in my mind long after the book was finished. I will definitely be checking out his other works. Great job, Craig!
June 19, 2016
I love Craig Lancasters writing. After I finished 600 Hours of Edward I began to work my way through all his published work.....so far I've not been disappointed. I hope he develops a few of the short stories....they are worthy and left me wanting more.
December 2, 2012
The stories here aren't what you'd necessarily call "feel good" - save for the last one - but the writing is good, and makes you think. Mr. Lancaster can count me among his fans.
November 24, 2019
An outstanding collection of short stories; my favorite being "Comfort and Joy". Each of the stories was thought-provoking and original. Very enjoyable reading.
October 6, 2014
A great collection of stories with with an eclectic cast of characters. I especially liked the final story, Comfort and Joy.
September 7, 2014
An very enjoyable book of short stories which left me wishing each one were the beginning of a novel! I would give this volume a 3 1/2 star rating if it were available.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews