Calling

by Joe Samuel Starnes

Evoking visceral images such as a fire-and-brimstone preacher ranting and a deep-voiced deejay spinning country music and reading the local news of fish fries, car wrecks, and church bake sales, this tale digs beneath the surface of the Southern Baptist Church, commercial radio, and small-town manhood. Seated next to each other on a bus headed out of Las Vegas, Southern Baptist preacher and radio evangelist, Ezekiel Blizzard Jr., and country-western deejay, Timber Goodman, would not initially appear to be birds of the same feather. Yet as their ride through the desert progresses, and their hardscrabble stories of childhood, drinking, drug use, gambling, radio, religion, and even violence in the "Christ-haunted South" unfold, they discover their unusual mutual quests for redemption.

Genres: Fiction, Noir, Novels, Mystery

272 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 2005

About the author

Joe Samuel “Sam” Starnes is the coauthor of Leth Oun's life story, A Refugee's American Dream: From the Killing Fields of Cambodia to the U.S. Secret Service, published in print in 2023 by Temple University Press and as audiobook by Tantor Media. The audiobook, narrated by Tim Lounibos, was honored as a finalist in the 2024 Audie Awards. His first novel, Calling, was published in 2005, and was reissued in 2014 as an e-book by Mysterious Press.com/Open Road. NewSouth Books published his second novel Fall Line in November 2011, and it was selected to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s “Best of the South” list. Red Dirt: A Tennis Novel, published in 2015, is his third novel. He has had journalism appear in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and various magazines, as well as essays, short stories, and poems in literary journals. He holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Georgia, an MA in English from Rutgers University in Newark, and an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Goucher College. He was awarded a fellowship to the 2006 Sewanee Writers’ Conference.

Reviews

[Shelby *trains flying monkeys* · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story starts on a bus trip.


A crazy preacher forces a DJ to hear his story because the Lord told him to preach it to him. Timber the DJ doesn't necessarily want to hear it but there is no stopping him. Over several states they share their lives and a bottle of Jim Beam.

Zeke was a preacher's son. A preacher who just couldn't keep his pants zipped up. We follow his life story of his rise from small town boy to Bible college and then he settles down and preaches in a small town church for years. Robbing banks on the side...after meeting a con in prison that gave him tips on how to pull off the perfect crimes.


Timber's dad was the local radio star. He managed the radio station and also had some problem with the old pecker needing to jump out pretty often. He went from small town to bigger stations in Dallas and across the south. His downfall was he couldn't behave himself on the air and liked to piss off advertisers.


Both main characters stories are told very well. The book is very wordy or I would have rated it higher. The author does write very well and at about 60% I couldn't put the book down. I wanted to know what was in Zeke's suitcase (yep-not good)

One question I have though is why does every crazy ass preacher have to be from North Georgia? We are only about half crazy thank you very much.


I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Gabby · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a free ARC of **Calling** by *Joe Samuel Starnes* from NetGalley.com in exchange for an honest review. The publisher of this book, *Open Road Media*, caught my attention these past few months because of the high quality of new books they are publishing as well as the republication of some iconic past authors whose work should not be forgotten.

It has been my experience in going to the doctor's office, and yes, even on a bus, that someone who is lonely or just simply obnoxious, will get the seat next to me and begin to talk. I always have a book open in my lap to discourage this, but there are some who refuse to notice that I'm trying to read. I won't answer questions with more than a grunt or ignore the speaker completely, but this never stops the truly determined conversationalist who somehow believes that it's my burning passion to know about and even see an appendix scar, or hear about her daughter's sex life. So, I completely understand the annoyance Timber Goodman feels when Reverend Ezekiel Blizzard Jr gets on the same bus, and immediately begins to tell Timber the story of his life. In fact, Zeke seems to believe it is Timber's obligation to hear this story no mater what he does to discourage the telling of it.

To sweeten the temptation for Timber to listen, Rev Zeke offers him some of his bottle of Jim Beam, and eventually, as we knew it would, this weakens Timber's resolve. Throughout Arizona, Zeke relates the story of his growing up under the strict hand of his father. When Zeke left home, his mother sobbed and was inconsolable; later Zeke came to believe she was afraid to live by herself with her husband. When Zeke came home for Christmas, he was informed that his mother had died 3 weeks prior, and his father was vague on all the details including why he never notified Zeke of her passing. This incident cut Zeke loose from any ties he may have had with his father or the town where he was raised.

While Zeke is relating his story, Timber begins remembering incidents from his own past and begins to see where he and Zeke share a few things in common. Both were raised in strong religious backgrounds, although Zeke became much more involved in the religious life by becoming a minister himself. Timber was more indifferent to the preaching and never had a call to Jesus moment like Zeke did. Yet he knew the kinds of reactions Zeke talked about when he spoke of what religion did for him. The storytelling in this section was first rate. I became more and more interested in where this was going. When Zeke got on the bus, it was obvious he had had some sort of physical encounter because he was wearing all the marks of a struggle or beating. He showed Timber that he carried a Bowie knife with him, and he left no doubt that he knew how to use it.
So, how does a man of God wind up on a bus going across the country with a life story that is beginning to sound far from innocent or religious?

That's where Starnes begins to inform us of more of the truth about both Zeke and Timber. There are surprises in store, and they are somewhat startling given what we think we know about these two men so far. While religion does play a part in both men's lives, it's interesting to see how it's used to rationalize questionable behavior into something a little more palatable or even to squeeze sympathy where it has no place at all. I think **Calling** is about how slick the most moral high ground becomes with the right person calling the shots and keeping the "flock" who look to them for guidance from catching on to what's at stake.

For me, **Calling** had a very satisfying ending. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to read a well told story with a few ideas to ponder when finished. This book would be a good choice for book clubs.

[Donna Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Courtesy of Net Galley and Open Road Integrated Media.
Do you know the Four Spiritual Laws? Do you believe that Jesus died for your sins? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

If so, this is not your book. Move along; scoot! I am serious.

I'll just wait for you to gather your things...have a nice day.

(pause)

Are they gone?

Good. So, this book is for the rest of us. Well, most of the rest of us. It all depends where your "ick" threshold is. I've mentioned this before, in other reviews. Here's your litmus test: if you can get through at least one Stephen King novel, or if you read The Silence of the Lambs without a sick lump forming in your gut, you'll be fine here. What Starnes has written is seriously funny, but the humor is really, really dark. It won't be everyone's cup of tea, but those who like it will love it!

Our setting: a commercial bus, in the back, riding cross country heading northwest toward Utah. Our protagonist: Timber, a failed disc jockey confronting middle age. He is joined in the back of the bus by a Southern preacher named Zeke, who brings with him a suitcase (oh that suitcase!), a foot-long razor-sharp Bowie knife, a briefcase with a Bible in it, and a bottle of Jim Beam. Timber wants to be left alone, but once Zeke makes it clear that he wants, and intends to have, company, Timber is surprised at how much they have in common. They both grew up in poor but very religious households in the deep South, and both of them had abusive fathers. And that's just for starters.

Unlike Timber, though, Zeke has been through seminary, where he learned to be a "front man for Jesus...His marketing team". In ministering to prisoners, "a captive audience", he gains a somewhat different set of skills, but once you learn to rationalize the things you learn as a seminarian, hell, you can rationalize anything.

Have you ever noticed the similarity between a church and a Vegas casino?

Does it embarrass you when your mama speaks in tongues? Be honest here.

But the most important thing to remember is that "...our God and his son are so gracious as to forgive our sins, whatever they may be...so I shut her in the trunk and drove off."

Hmmm.

Reader, dear reader, letmetellyathis: I have never, no never in a very long time, to be absolutely, positively candid, laughed so hard. The mattress shook beneath my aging couch potato body, and it was not caused by the Holy Spirit, it was caused by the enormously amusing prose of Joe Samuel Starnes.

For those who are not easily offended and would like to be amused, this book is calling. You'd better listen. You don't want to miss that bus!

[DROPPING OUT · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is December 1, 1955, the last day in the life of large area of Achena County, Georgia as a large dam is about to be put in operation for hydroelectric energy and to create a recreation lake created in the flooded area. Within twenty-four hours the two-street village of Finley Shoals will at the bottom of Lake Terrell. Only two persons and one dog remain: Mrs. McNulty, an elder widow who has lived her entire life on the banks of the Oogasula River. her also elderly dog Percy, and Elmer Blizzard.
Elmer was born and raised in Finley Shoals, but lives in the nearby town of Lymanville. He is a in his early 30s, a veteran of World War II, and a disgraced former police officer; his wife has left him. He sees no future for himself because he lives in the past. Almost predictably, he carries several firearms throughout the novel and the reader awaits an act of seemingly random violence.
Elmer is also burning with anger against Aubrey Terrell, the local politico who bought up the territory cheap and made a killing in selling it to Georgia Power, that was building the dam.
Yet for all his apparent imbalance, he is filled with compassion for the hopeless widow and her dog, who refuse to evacuate.
The narrative shifts between Elmer's and the dog's actions and perspectives.
Like a Greek tragedy, in which the audience knows how the play ends, Fall Line proceeds at a smooth pace to the conclusion. Starnes has a wonderful eye for capturing detail, and his dialogues ring authentic.
The only shortcoming, in my opinion was the afterword. I do not see it as necessary; indeed, I think it a too-sweet Hollywood ending. I would have happier, perhaps, is the book had ended on page 251.
As I wrote about Starnes' earlier novel, why have we not heard him before? Why have his two novels been reviewed? I was saddened, even shocked, that a search of Starnes' name on BookReview.com yielded NO results. With so mant books of doubtful literary values receiving attention, why is a talented young writer ignored?

[Ellen Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

very nice. novel about loss and powerlessness. and a dog. and the beauty of the land and plants and animals of the place I call home. For 3 or 4 years, I had a boyfriend who lived on Lake Oconee in Middle Georgia. He worked for the power company and gave me a tour of the dam once. It is this place and nearby town that I imagined while reading the book. Couldn't find what town the author lived in, but at the end, he acknowledged the help of Putnam co. sheriff, the same I'd imagined.

worst: long blow by blow narrative of a poker game, dog eating rabbit.
best: the beginning and the end, and the message about the power that wealthy people have to selfishly enrich themselves at others' expense. I usually don't like it when the protagonist is unlikeable, but in this case, you realize that the ones who speak the truth are not always easy to be around. great southern novel.

[Ken Dowell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rural Georgia 1955. A smooth talking politician glad-handing and helping folks out while he steals their land. An isolated old woman whose only preparation for the impending flooding of her property is to screw the legs off the old bathtub on her front porch. A lot of character types that I'd rather read about than meet in person. Starnes' story is a good way to do just that. And he adds the perspective of an old country dog who seems to have a keener sense of what's happending to his home turf than his human co-habitants. A quick and engaging read.

[Kevin Catalano · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic novel from a gifted author. While this is a "tennis novel," I loved it and I have no interest at all in tennis. The plot unfolds in a cinematic way: visual, fast-paced, dramatic and often funny, with colorful characters. I highly recommend this book!

[Kevin Catalano · Rating 5 out of 5]

This my second time reading this, and I love it even more. The detail in the writing is masterful and vivid, and the climactic scene is one of the boldest I’ve ever read (no exaggeration).

[Danica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway. I've tried to keep my review as spoiler free as possible.


I think it's important that, considering my rating, I start by saying I didn't think I would like this book. Though the premise sounded interesting, I'm not very much into the culture of the American South, and the synopsis made it sound like it would be chock full of culture. And don't get me wrong--it definitely is. But the skill of the writing and the author's voice quickly pulled me over this personal stumbling block by drawing me in and making me want to care about this little town with this huge event, and the people (and dog) who tell the story of the day in which it all takes place. Obviously, if you're already interested in the South, you won't have the initial problem I did, so hopefully you'll be drawn right in.


The book is broken up into four parts: Morning, Afternoon into Evening, Night, and After, the latter of which serves as a small epilogue of sorts. Something to keep in mind to enhance your experience while reading is the feel of each of those times of day:

The story starts out in the Morning section with a great deal of description, told, interestingly enough, from the POV (point of view) of a half-chow half-mutt named Percy. It keeps this descriptive element as we progress into the main character Elmer's POV. It's the kind of writing that fits with a lazy Southern morning, and serves a very important purpose: not only letting the reader get to know the plot and the characters who will be telling this story, but introducing us to the land that is threatened by this dam. We can't possibly understand Elmer's position if we don't get to know this land like a character, and both Percy and Elmer's time spent describing it is worth the wait for the action to really pick up.

Afternoon to Evening is a hectic, action-packed, suspenseful ride that made it hard for me to put the book down. And Night deals with a dark state of mind and some of the things that can only be brought out under cover of darkness, as well as some powerful scenes that wind on into daybreak. After, in my mind, is there to remind the reader that not all is darkness: after the night comes the dawn, and there are rewards waiting for a life well-lived.


I have many favorite parts in this book, all of which are enriched by the author's excellent writing. The subtle use of metaphor and allegory in parts helped to create a very rich story, which made for one of the most satisfying endings I've read for some time. I think the scene with the poker game alone would make me want to give this book five stars--as the start of Afternoon into Evening, it's where the action and suspense really start to come into play, even if it's only in the context of a game. And then the cards are put away, and the 'game' starts to influence the lives of everyone affected by this dam.

I also appreciated how the style and feel of the writing shifted with the different POV's: the senator Aubrey's style was polished, Elmer's more than a bit rough around the edges. Along those lines, I thought it was very clever to present much of the actual description of the land and dam event through the POV of the dog, Percy. We as humans may see the end to justify the means (or not, in the case of Elmer), but as a dog, all Percy can see is that things are changing: the forested spots are stumps now, the cows he used to tease are gone. Things are loud and smell wrong. Despite all the time in Elmer's POV and the shady dealings of the senator, I think this book does a great job of leaving it up to the reader to decide if the dam was a good thing for this town. But you can't deny the truth of the changes it brought about, and Percy's POV sections do a very effective job of presenting those changes to the reader, biased only by the things dogs specifically care about.


I have a few small gripes, as with any story: I thought the scene with the pulpwooder was a bit overdone, and though I see how it fits with the story, I could have done without it. And although the sections of the book are marked with the times of day in which they take place, I would have appreciated more visual clues in the actual writing to the time of day: as Elmer is driving to the dam, I thought it was well into evening, when it was actually only 3 o'clock. And though I accept the character trait of Elmer spitting, I think it's a bit excessive in the first scene where he's talking to Mrs. McNulty--my mouth was getting dry just thinking about how often he spat!


To close, a quote from the book that I think very well sums up the struggles faced, especially by Elmer, which starts on page 160 and reads as follows:

"He thought about the sunken battleships on the bottom of the Pacific, the ones attacked at Pearl Harbor and then the Jap ones the U.S. Navy fighter planes had sunk. He had never dreamed that his own homeplace would be submerged like those ships half-a-world away. The Navy always stressed how the globe was three-quarters water and that they had the largest area to cover of any of the military branches. So why in the Sam Hill had he come home to more drowning of the earth, more territory for the goddamned water? What was so bad about being landlocked?"

The complex and interesting characters, subtle allegory, suspense, and just darn good writing are what made me do a complete U-turn in my initial thoughts about this book, and make it very much deserving of a 5 star review.

[DROPPING OUT · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the blurb on the front fold of the dust jacket:

"Evoking visceral images such as a fire-and-brimstone preacher ranting and raving his own personal message of salvation and a deep-voiced deejay spinning country music and reading the local news of fish fries, car wrecks, and church bake sales, CALLING digs beneath the surface of the Southern Baptist Church, commercial radio, and small-town manhood.

"Seated next to each other by happenstance on a bus headed out of Las Vegas, fallen Southern
Baptist preacher and radio evangelist from Georgia, Ezekiel Blizzard Jr., and a down-and-out country-western deejay from Louisiana, Timber Goodman, wouldn't appear to be compatible. Yet as their ride through the desert progresses, and their hardscrabble stories of childhood, drinking, drug-use, gambling, radio, religion, and violence in what Flannery O'Connor called the "Christ-haunted South" unfold, they discover they are on a mutual quest for redemption Just as the Greyhound bus winds through the desert, this captivating tale takes readers on a journey into the deepest recesses of the human souls."

As I am apparently the first person on Goodreads to read (or rate) this book, I feel it would not be amiss to say a few words about how I came to this book.

I am, on Facebook, a fan of Andalusia, the home [and museum and gallery]of Flannery O'Connor, and I saw that Joe Samuel Stearnes would be giving a reading of his forthcoming book, Fall Line, at the Mary Vinson Memorial Library in Milledgeville, Geogia in early November [yesterday, actually]. Although unfamiliar with Mr. Stearnes name, I did not think the Foundation would lends its name to any ordinary writer.

When I opened Calling, I noticed to dedication to Larry Brown, a Southern writer who had passed away in 2004 at the age of 53. Although I knew Brown's name I realized I had not read anything by him. This led me to read his novel Father and Son, which was the last book I read on Goodreads. Thoroughly impressed by Brown, I delved into Stearnes.

I quoted from the dust jacket because it summed up the novel perfectly. To add to it might be gilding the lily. I will say, however, that Stearnes has constructed a tight narrative in which the two protagonists recount the lives in alternating chapters. The descriptions of rural Georgia and Louisiana and the other locales are concise and vivid. The dialogue flows naturally - This Yankee from New England felt himself drawn into it, as a fly on the wall.

What I cannot understand is why this book is not better known? Why is Joe Samuel Stearnes not better known. One novel does not a great writer/novelist make, but it ought to be a sign.

The pantheon of Southern Gothic writers already has a number of "greats." Perhaps Joe Samuel Stearnes is be counted among them.

[Ken Dowell · Rating 5 out of 5]

The rise, fall and reconstruction of Jaxie Skinner. This is a novel about tennis and about life in rural northern Georgia. That puts the story directly in the wheelhouse of this author. Starnes is an avid tennis fan, author of the Topspin Blog and not a bad player himself. And he grew up in small-town Georgia.

I’ve never been to the kind of elite junior or “Futures” tournament described by Starnes as the place where Jaxie makes his move. If I did I would expect to find kids that came from all over the world to be shaped into the same mold by the elite Florida tennis academies. So while this is only fiction it is nice to think that a young guy from the sticks who learned to play in his backyard can put away some of these clones. I’m also pretty sure that an academy kid doesn’t get experiences like driving to the Orange Bowl in the back seat of his father’s Lincoln while his buddy tells him stories of hooking up with the stripper who danced with a snake. And Bollettieri’s boys probably don’t spend the night before a big match holed up with their old man in a Quality Inn room while he gets so shit-faced that he can’t make the match the next day.

The title Red Dirt comes from the surface of the court that Jaxie’s father built for him in their yard. Inexplicably he never paves the court even though he makes a living as a road paver. This is a book that combines fact and fiction. Jaxie achieves success at the French Open both on the court and in the bed of the 16-year old Russian phenom in the women’s draw. That’s fiction. When the phenom proves to be not so phenomenal going up against Steffi Graff, that’s fact. Who knows how many times Steffi ended a young prodigy’s dream run?

There’s lots of tennis lore. One of my favorites is the story of Vitas Gerulaitis, who after losing to Jimmy Connors 16 times, wins once and proudly announces that “nobody beats Vitas Gerulaitis 17 times in a row.”

As you might expect the pro tennis players’ clubhouse is not portrayed as housing the friendliest group of guys you’ll ever meet. And there is a hint of HGH about. Starnes recreates the atmosphere of Roland Garros and Flushing Meadows, not as it looks to the Federers and Nadals of the world, but rather as it is seen through the eyes of the qualifiers, the last guys invited to the party.

As in his earlier novels, Calling and Fall Line, Starnes’ storytelling can make you feel like you’re sitting in a rocking chair on the front porch drinking a beer. But in Red Dirt the southern drawl that weaves its way into his writing off the court is at times replaced by the direct and concise style of a wire service sportswriter when the action is on the court. You don’t have to be a tennis lover or a Southerner to enjoy this book. I can vouch for that.

[multitaskingmomma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Original Blog Post: http://www.multitaskingmommas.com/201...

Joe Samuel Starnes introduces a truth with Calling. No matter what church you look into, there are the good and the bad. It doesn't matter which congregation, sect, or even religion, it's a fact that anybody would be unable to deny. There is that needed balance and always the inevitable quandary: Who is saving who?

There is that Christian theory where the Wounded Warrior is best equipped to save souls. It's based on the fact that empathy is more powerful than sympathy - those who have gone through hell and returned are more able to guide others who have simply gone astray.

This is Ezekiel Blizzard Jr.'s public confession, his witnessing, to Timber Goodman of his life in order to bring him back to the church. Or is it?

To those who aren't familiar with the terms, public confession is exactly as it sounds. A person's sins are confessed in front of the church congregation or similar group of people. Witnessing is, to compare it in layman's terms, something like a spiritual AA meeting. "Hi, I'm So-and-So, and I'm a sinner. Let me share with you the wrongs I've done and how Christ showed me the right path to take..."

[While my analogy may seem irreverent, it's only because of the tone taken in this book to make a heavy subject palatable to readers. Confession is a very serious Sacrament for me and I never take it lightly in my personal life.]

But Timber in himself is a questionable person to witness to. I wondered why Zeke picked him. Was there a weakness that he saw that could be exploited? Or was it a true need to save? After listening to Zeke in the first few pages, I saw a doubtful personality masquerading as a preacher. I'm not surprised Timber didn't see it, however. If a person doesn't have a good relationship with his God, what hope of discernment does he have? More often than not, choices become the wrong ones, as his already were.

In the end, to me, it all boils down to a few questions: was Zeke allowed to do all those evil things simply to save the soul of Timber Goodman? And if it's a yes, then has Timber realized the blood price that his soul has cost? Not just the Blood of Christ that saved him from the beginning but the agony all those other innocent souls had gone through simply to reach the culmination of this story. Or is he simply happy thanking God for the good turn his life has taken and is not willing to do more? One wonders how often the storyline of Calling repeats itself in real life...

[Maria Beltrami · Rating 3 out of 5]

I find quite difficult to make a judgment on this book. It's well written, has a captivating storyline, the interaction and the parallelism between the two protagonists is almost perfect, yet I can not give more than 3 stars.
One of the two main characters is kind of a fallen angel: Protestant pastor for most of his life, a preacher of good level, possesses a kind of original sin, which is the legacy of his father, in turn preacher, but womanizer and violent. Once broken hisbanks, in turn, become a womanizer and a violent too, and a good dose of acid will do the rest.
The other is a bad guy in the third category, although his father is a womanizer, though not violent, and his mother is a religious fanatic. Radio DJ by profession, spends his spends his life changing work and city because of his bad habits.
A long bus trip puts the two men in comparison, makes that tell each other their lives.
So far so good, but when the novel could have shut in glory, comes a final chapter, totally unnecessary and devoid of logic, which reduces dramatically the value of the story.
Thank Open Road Integrated Media and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Trovo abbastanza difficoltoso esprimere un giudizio su questo libro. E' scritto bene, la trama accattivante, l'interazione e il parallelismo tra i due protagonisti praticamente perfetto, eppure non mi è possibile dare di più di 3 stelline.
Uno dei due protagonisti è una specie di angelo caduto: pastore protestante per gran parte della sua vita, predicatore di buon livello, porta in sé una specie di peccato originale che è il retaggio di suo padre, a sua volta predicatore, ma dongiovanni e violento. Una volta rotti gli argini, diventerà a sua volta un dongiovanni e un violento, e una buona dose di acido farà il resto.
L'atro è un cattivo ragazzo di terza categoria, anche suo padre è un dongiovanni, pur se non violento, e sua madre è una fanatica religiosa. Di professione DJ radiofonico, passa la sua vita cambiando lavoro e città a causa delle sue cattive abitudini.
Un lungo viaggio in pullman mette i due uomini a confronto, fa sì che raccontino l'uno all'altro la propria vita.
Fin qui tutto bene, ma quando il romanzo avrebbe potuto chiudersi in gloria, arriva un ultimo capitolo, del tutto inutile e privo di logica, che ne riduce clamorosamente il valore.
Ringrazio Open Road Integrated Media e Netgalley per avermi fornito una copia gratuita in cambio di una recensione onesta.

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shortly before the end of Calling, Starnes neatly summarizes its theme in two sentences:

[T]here was a kinship, a shared understanding of their lonesome existences, their poor mamas and their jackass daddies, their Southern roots that ran deep and were inescapable. They had taken different paths but ended up in the same place.

"They" are the Reverend Ezekiel Blizzard, Jr., a fallen Southern Baptist preacher, and Thomas "Timber" Goodman, a failed radio DJ, who encounter each other on a Greyhound bus ride from Las Vegas to Salt Lake City.

The book is structured in alternating segments, with Zeke telling Timber his life story and Timber then reflecting on how that story mirrors or comments upon his own. This is a very successful strategy, as it enables the reader to experience the interior lives of both characters without confusing them. Both are brought low, in their own way, by sex, drinking, and gambling (not surprising, given their origination point in Las Vegas), but by the end, the lessons they have learned from their travails are very different. Zeke's fate is fairly heavily foreshadowed by Starnes's initial description of him as he boards the bus; what happens to Timber is unexpected, but nonetheless a perfect culmination of his story.

At times, the book dragged (in a "second verse same as the first" way). I think this was a deliberate choice by Starnes, as it echoes the monotony of a long Greyhound bus ride, but it nevertheless diminished my enjoyment so that I could not give the book 5 stars. Those who look for an exciting plot in their reading will not appreciate Calling but, for those who are more interested in strong character development, I highly recommend it.

I received a free copy of Calling through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Regan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book! Yes, I'm a tennis fan and I was thrilled that this author knew what he was writing about with tennis. Not necessary to be a tennis fan though to enjoy this story. This is just a great, enjoyable, insightful read.

That said, here are my musings if this wonderful novel were ever to be made into a movie:

-really wanted a follow up scene with McEnroe face to face after he came through his last big match! Also, after that match, would have loved to see him charm the pants off the press in the pressroom in a funny, heartfelt interview.

-need some scenes with his sisters and mother to either help explain better why there has been absolutely no contact between them for so many years. The only part of this novel that irritated me was, with the exception of Jessica, the characterization of the women in his life as either great pieces of ass or the uncaring, dead-to-me mother and sisters. So he has mother issues - but wouldn't most sisters at least send their baby brother a birthday card throughout the years? Just didn't buy that part.

-and speaking of Jessica - she's the redemptive element in the story. Wonderful! How much more wonderful would it be if his great epiphany about how he loves this girl would move him, directly or indirectly, to maybe help HER get her tennis passion back for example. We don't see any change about how she views her own tennis career after she's met him. Don't need to change the plot, just could have added some flipside scenes to show how their influence on each other has changed them both and yes, moved him beyond the self-isolated, self-centered male.

[Jayne Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I lost quite a bit of sleep over Red Dirt because I couldn’t put it down and because, quite frankly, I worried about the main character, Jaxie Skinner, the blue collar tennis prodigy. I watched his struggle for identity, his trouble with family, struggles and stop and start in his rise in his profession. I particularly liked watching Jaxie move through the tennis world, first as a boy whose father scraped a red dirt tennis court on their land, and faced it the wrong way, or east to west—so that the sun was in his eyes. Jaxie states, “The yellow balls came at me as though shot right out of the sun, as though the light of the universe had catapulted a ball my way.” Starnes has a wonderful eye for detail, and his descriptions are always spot-on. Jaxie’s father may have faced the court the wrong way, but he ultimately raised him the right way—he is a hard-working, driven man who, after considerable cracks in the court of life, is dedicated to his sport, but more importantly, dedicated to holding on to his humanity. I learned an awful lot about tennis and an awful lot about life in reading Red Dirt. It is the second Starnes novel that I have read, the first being Fall Line, which is an excellent novel. Red Dirt, however, is Starnes at the top of his game. Now I will catch up by reading his novel The Calling and then sit and wait for another. . .

[Clifford · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recently tried to re-read one of the Chip Hilton books that I loved as a kid. If you’re not familiar with Chip, he’s the main character in a series of sports-themed novels for boys by Claire Bee, a Hall of Fame basketball coach, published in the ‘50s and ‘60s. Chip, a teenager, excels in all sports and, through his superior morals and work ethic, invariably leads his basketball/football/baseball teams to the championship despite the calamities that always seem to befall someone en route. Either the books haven’t aged well, or I haven’t, because I could barely make it through one chapter.
Jaxie Skinner, the protagonist of Joe Samuel Starnes’s new novel Red Dirt, is no Chip Hilton. For one thing, he’s a grownup, professional tennis player looking back at his career that began when he was three years old and his father, having watched a thrilling Borg-McEnroe match on television, was inspired to build a tennis court into the red Georgia clay of the family’s back yard. For another, he makes a long, self-destructive detour from his career, including a very un-Chip-like brush with alcoholism and numerous brief sexual encounters that demonstrate exceedingly poor judgment.
. . . more
The full review is here: Review of Red Dirt

[Jill · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm impressed by anyone who writes a book, much less gets it published, so the author deserves kudos for that indeed. That's the best I got. This book suffers from poorly imagined characters and unimaginative prose. Sentences that begin with, "I can't describe..." are always a red flag. Dude, you're writing a book. Your first job is to describe.

Also irksome was the way most of the female characters were depicted, as though their only important features are boobs, butt and fuck-me hair. At one point the author describes one of the women Jaxie has sex with as "twenty-nine, but still good-looking". A more artful writer might have woven this in to the portrayal of Jaxie's character, but one gets the feeling that this is just the way this author thinks about women. Additionally, the "redeeming relationship" at the end is laughable. Does she have to be 22, to Jaxie's 38? I mean, it happens, I've been there, but it doesn't add to the redemption arc.

The tennis bits are interesting, and way more insider than other novels about tennis. Almost makes it worth it. That, and the nice people working at the US Open bookstore, which is where I picked this up. I always stop by for a visit.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

First let me start by stating that I won this book in a goodreads give away.

This was a very well written story. The narrative bouncing from Elmer, the ex deputy, to Percy, the widowers dog, to Aubrey Terrell, the state senator, was quite interesting. I found myself wanting to know what kind of trouble Elmer was going to get in next and what else the senator has done without the townfolk knowing. I did not care for the storytelling from the dog's perspective as much as the others.

The story takes place in the span of one day, spanning from one morning in to the next and is broken into 4 chapters (morning, afternoon into evening, night, and after. while I struggled a bit with the morning chapter, I was soon rewarded with afternoon into evening and night. that is when the story really got good for me.

An excellent story. I highly recommend it.

[Ellen Johnson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Normally I would give up on a one-star book before I was halfway through, but I kept reading to see what was in the darn suitcase and wished I hadn't. About halfway I did start skipping large sections because of the repetition of drunken sexual exploits of the two disgusting good old boys who are the main characters. One of them is like Hunter S. Thompson if he were a Southern Pentecostal preacher instead of a journalist.

I also don't like to write bad reviews on here, but I am a very religious person in my own way and I felt sort of tricked by the description of the book and the title, which implies a theme of a deep spiritual calling. The depictions of religion in the book were either childish and sentimental, on the surface, or perverse and twisted. The author certainly improved with his second book, *Fall Line*. It too is pretty macho, but also more meaningful.

[AsHoK · Rating 3 out of 5]

I searched a lot to find a good tennis novel and was very happy when I found this one. a very nice smooth story about a tennis player.. all about tennis!!! being a competitive tennis player myself, I would say that certain scenes or scenarios in this novel are not at all possible to happen in a real tennis player's life but at the same time certain other scenes or scenarios are really realistic and 100% true which every competitive tennis player would have or will experience in their lives. while reading certain chapters I felt like reading my own biography (I am sure every passionate tennis player would feel the same).

so overall it is a nice read.. a pleasant ride in the tennis world without any twists and turns!!!

[Kay Haltom · Rating 2 out of 5]

I usually like Southern literature but this one was a little too gritty for me. The story of a town and farmland being flooded for political reasons is depressing to begin with but the fat cat politicians are even worse than the real ones (imagine playing poker as a way for distributing lake lots) and the main character is so angry that no other aspect of his personality can come through. The detailed description of the dog's activities impart humanoid characteristics to him and the graphic play-by-play of his ingestion of a rabbit is way too much information. Like the Titanic, you know how this is going to end but overall the book left me feeling bad for every character in the whole story.

[Rose · Rating 2 out of 5]

I won this book in a goodreads giveaway. I did not really care for this book. The majority of the novel is viewed through the eyes of Elmer Blizzard, the ex-deputy. He was not a likable character, which caused me to not want to invest my time in reading the novel. I was more interested in the dog's story and Mrs. McNulty. However I enjoyed how the novel unfolded in one day's action, and the author's descriptive language used to paint a picture of the Georgian woodlands was beautifully written. I was able to imagine myself wandering Georgia, whether it was the woodlands or the town.

[Jenee Rager · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book through a goodreads giveaway. I found the premise to be intriguing but there wasn't a lot of follow through. Most of the characters are poorly developed and unlikeable. By the end of the book I really only cared about what happened to Mrs.McNulty and wished she had been in more of the story. The author isn't a bad writer, but I feel his style is more suited to short stories or maybe even poetry than it is to novel writing.

[Mike Bodary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I expected to enjoy the book because I am a tennis ball player but, it was more than that. From very humble beginnings in rural GA to the semi-finals of the French Open, the author puts you right in the middle of the action and gives you his mental struggles with each tough match.
The character development is excellent and the story moves.
I recommend this novel to tennis players and non-tennis players.

[Louis Greenstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Red Dirt is a beautiful work of fiction in the Southern Gothic style. Jaxie Skinner is a great character - talented, brilliant, and flawed. His story unfolds at a fine pace, the relationships develop and blossom. I don't know a thing about tennis, and that did not matter. Tennis - and red dirt - are metaphors. Poetic and sweeping, Red Dirt inspired me.

[Sandy Hunter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book through a goodreads giveaway. I enjoyed reading this book. The protagonist was intriguing, yet hard to like. I kept hoping that he would become more human as the book neared its completion. The dog's adventures were also enjoyable.

[Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

I recieved this book free through the Goodreads giveaway program. It was interesting book with interesting characters. It was a snapshot in time of people in rural Georgia dealing with an new dam and the inundation of their land. It was well written and moved along at a good pace.

[Kevin Catalano · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you call yourself a student or fan of southern literature and you haven't read this book, you should rectify that. Next to Faulkner or McCarthy or O'Connor or Crews or Brown, there is no better allegory of the changing South than Starnes' FALL LINE.

[Rob Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not a tennis fan, but I really enjoyed this comeback story. The lead character was easy to root for. I've read all of Starnes' novels. Each is completely different, easy and fun to read. I look forward to the next one.