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Jupiter and Gilgamesh: A Novel of Sumeria and Texas
Jupiter is crazy, and not only because he lives on top of a grain elevator. As a sixty-year-old ad exec, he knows people are his living, but he can’t bear being with more than two human beings at a time. Unfortunately, his one psychic need is for a family, but it’s a little late to start one.
Additional complications trip him up – the Village is about to evict him, and he’s dating a twenty-five year old woman that’s stomping roughshod over him. He’s haunted by a child he accidentally killed years ago and his best friend is Gilgamesh, a dead Sumerian king who gives bad advice.
How does a man live an authentic life anymore? You’ll find out on this exhilarating ride through Uruk and West Texas. Do yourself a favor, buy this book, get in on the secret before everyone else knows what you soon will: here is the future of contemporary fiction.”
John Dufresne, Author of: No Regrets, Coyote
Additional complications trip him up – the Village is about to evict him, and he’s dating a twenty-five year old woman that’s stomping roughshod over him. He’s haunted by a child he accidentally killed years ago and his best friend is Gilgamesh, a dead Sumerian king who gives bad advice.
How does a man live an authentic life anymore? You’ll find out on this exhilarating ride through Uruk and West Texas. Do yourself a favor, buy this book, get in on the secret before everyone else knows what you soon will: here is the future of contemporary fiction.”
John Dufresne, Author of: No Regrets, Coyote
298 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 1, 2014
3 people are currently reading
27 people want to read
About the author
Scott Archer Jones
1 book52 followersScott Archer Jones is currently living and working on his sixth novel in northern New Mexico, after stints in the Netherlands, Scotland and Norway plus less exotic locations. He’s worked for a power company, grocers, a lumberyard, an energy company (for a very long time), and a winery. Now he's on the masthead of the Prague Revue, and launched a novel last year with Southern Yellow Pine, Jupiter and Gilgamesh, a Novel of Sumeria and Texas. Jupiter was a finalist in four categories of the 2014 New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards and won a 2015 Bronze IPPY and a 2015 Silver FAPA President's Award. The next book The Big Wheel, arrived in March, and won FAPA's Silver and Gold. A Rising Tide Of People Swept Away was released in 2016 by Fomite Press and 3 Silver FAPA President's Awards.
He has received an honorable mention in the E. M. Koeppel Short Fiction Contest and was a finalist in the Glimmer Train 2008 Fiction Open and the SouthWest Writers Annual Competition (twice). He has been published at Behemoth, the Birds We Piled Loosely, Blue Lake Review, Bookends Review, Broken City, Circa, Copperfield, Digital Papercut, Easy Street, Eunoia, Eyedrum Periodically, Faircloth, Fear of Monkeys, Fiction on the Web, Flyover Country, Foliate Oak, Glint, Halfway Down The Stairs, HeadStuff, Indiana Voice Journal, Infinite Press, ken*again, The Legendary, The Life As An [insert label here], Literary Orphans, Otter, Piker's Press, the Prague Revue, Rusty Nail, Scrivnerscreed, Short Fiction Break, Snapping Twig, Stepping Stone, Synchronized Chaos, Thought Notebook, a Thousand and One Stories, Thrice Fiction, Whistling Fire, and Wilderness House Literary Review.
Scott cuts all his own firewood, lives a mile from his nearest neighbor and writes grant applications for the community. He is on the Board of Shuter Library of Angel Fire, a private 501.C3, and desperately needs your money to keep the doors open.
https://www.facebook.com/ScottArcherJ...
www.scottarcherjones.com
He has received an honorable mention in the E. M. Koeppel Short Fiction Contest and was a finalist in the Glimmer Train 2008 Fiction Open and the SouthWest Writers Annual Competition (twice). He has been published at Behemoth, the Birds We Piled Loosely, Blue Lake Review, Bookends Review, Broken City, Circa, Copperfield, Digital Papercut, Easy Street, Eunoia, Eyedrum Periodically, Faircloth, Fear of Monkeys, Fiction on the Web, Flyover Country, Foliate Oak, Glint, Halfway Down The Stairs, HeadStuff, Indiana Voice Journal, Infinite Press, ken*again, The Legendary, The Life As An [insert label here], Literary Orphans, Otter, Piker's Press, the Prague Revue, Rusty Nail, Scrivnerscreed, Short Fiction Break, Snapping Twig, Stepping Stone, Synchronized Chaos, Thought Notebook, a Thousand and One Stories, Thrice Fiction, Whistling Fire, and Wilderness House Literary Review.
Scott cuts all his own firewood, lives a mile from his nearest neighbor and writes grant applications for the community. He is on the Board of Shuter Library of Angel Fire, a private 501.C3, and desperately needs your money to keep the doors open.
https://www.facebook.com/ScottArcherJ...
www.scottarcherjones.com
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 6, 2015
Reviewed by Ray Simmons for Readers' Favorite
I must admit that the title Jupiter and Gilgamesh intrigued me. Then when I read the subtitle, A Novel of Texas and Sumeria, I had to throw out my preconceptions and wonder what Texas and Sumeria had in common. More than I originally thought. Jupiter and Gilgamesh is the first novel of Scott Archer Jones. A lot of writers do knock the ball out of the park the first time at bat. That is no reason not to admire the difficulty, hard work, and talent behind such a feat. Jupiter and Gilgamesh is a brilliant work of art that may very well be overlooked because the writer is not well known and it doesn't fit snugly into the genre system. If that happens it will be a shame and a sad commentary on the publishing system.
Jupiter and Gilgamesh is about life and how it is crazy, chaotic, and unfair whether you are an advertising executive who has retreated to a small town in Texas because of unimaginable pain, or a long dead epic hero who doesn't have much good to say about the gods, even though your mother was a goddess. In the dialogue between the dead king and the living but bruised ad man, we see that indeed, with all our inventions, all our science, and philosophies, and new religions, we are still very much like our long dead ancient counterparts in one of the very first civilizations. Scott Archer Jones style is witty, poignant and, most of all, full of truth.
I must admit that the title Jupiter and Gilgamesh intrigued me. Then when I read the subtitle, A Novel of Texas and Sumeria, I had to throw out my preconceptions and wonder what Texas and Sumeria had in common. More than I originally thought. Jupiter and Gilgamesh is the first novel of Scott Archer Jones. A lot of writers do knock the ball out of the park the first time at bat. That is no reason not to admire the difficulty, hard work, and talent behind such a feat. Jupiter and Gilgamesh is a brilliant work of art that may very well be overlooked because the writer is not well known and it doesn't fit snugly into the genre system. If that happens it will be a shame and a sad commentary on the publishing system.
Jupiter and Gilgamesh is about life and how it is crazy, chaotic, and unfair whether you are an advertising executive who has retreated to a small town in Texas because of unimaginable pain, or a long dead epic hero who doesn't have much good to say about the gods, even though your mother was a goddess. In the dialogue between the dead king and the living but bruised ad man, we see that indeed, with all our inventions, all our science, and philosophies, and new religions, we are still very much like our long dead ancient counterparts in one of the very first civilizations. Scott Archer Jones style is witty, poignant and, most of all, full of truth.
April 6, 2015
Reviewed by Ray Simmons for Readers' Favorite
I must admit that the title Jupiter and Gilgamesh intrigued me. Then when I read the subtitle, A Novel of Texas and Sumeria, I had to throw out my preconceptions and wonder what Texas and Sumeria had in common. More than I originally thought. Jupiter and Gilgamesh is the first novel of Scott Archer Jones. A lot of writers do knock the ball out of the park the first time at bat. That is no reason not to admire the difficulty, hard work, and talent behind such a feat. Jupiter and Gilgamesh is a brilliant work of art that may very well be overlooked because the writer is not well known and it doesn't fit snugly into the genre system. If that happens it will be a shame and a sad commentary on the publishing system.
Jupiter and Gilgamesh is about life and how it is crazy, chaotic, and unfair whether you are an advertising executive who has retreated to a small town in Texas because of unimaginable pain, or a long dead epic hero who doesn't have much good to say about the gods, even though your mother was a goddess. In the dialogue between the dead king and the living but bruised ad man, we see that indeed, with all our inventions, all our science, and philosophies, and new religions, we are still very much like our long dead ancient counterparts in one of the very first civilizations. Scott Archer Jones style is witty, poignant and, most of all, full of truth.
I must admit that the title Jupiter and Gilgamesh intrigued me. Then when I read the subtitle, A Novel of Texas and Sumeria, I had to throw out my preconceptions and wonder what Texas and Sumeria had in common. More than I originally thought. Jupiter and Gilgamesh is the first novel of Scott Archer Jones. A lot of writers do knock the ball out of the park the first time at bat. That is no reason not to admire the difficulty, hard work, and talent behind such a feat. Jupiter and Gilgamesh is a brilliant work of art that may very well be overlooked because the writer is not well known and it doesn't fit snugly into the genre system. If that happens it will be a shame and a sad commentary on the publishing system.
Jupiter and Gilgamesh is about life and how it is crazy, chaotic, and unfair whether you are an advertising executive who has retreated to a small town in Texas because of unimaginable pain, or a long dead epic hero who doesn't have much good to say about the gods, even though your mother was a goddess. In the dialogue between the dead king and the living but bruised ad man, we see that indeed, with all our inventions, all our science, and philosophies, and new religions, we are still very much like our long dead ancient counterparts in one of the very first civilizations. Scott Archer Jones style is witty, poignant and, most of all, full of truth.
September 23, 2019
This book is part realistic fiction and part magical realism, which lends it a mythical feel while grounding it in modern day problems. Jupiter is in Texas, modern day. Gilgamesh is, well, Gilgamesh from Sumeria long, long ago. It seems like a weird mix, and it is, but that's what makes it fun. What if you could speak to Gilgamesh, tell him about your troubles, and get some advice? There's some contrast here in how Gilgamesh perceives things in our world, sometimes humorous.
Jones has a small cast of characters here, and they're interesting and several of them seriously scarred. The trajectory is unexpected, the exotic mind of Gilgamesh is enlightening, and the ending has some good and bad, just as it is in life.
Jones has a small cast of characters here, and they're interesting and several of them seriously scarred. The trajectory is unexpected, the exotic mind of Gilgamesh is enlightening, and the ending has some good and bad, just as it is in life.
July 8, 2017
I really enjoyed this book.
I loved the mix of current time with ancient. It was very well done. The separate stories all melded I to one easily. Jupiter's medical issues were believable, even when he communicated with Gilgamesh. I was glad that Bobby seemed to have a Happy ending. I'd like to see a follow up on Jupiter and Kate.
I loved the mix of current time with ancient. It was very well done. The separate stories all melded I to one easily. Jupiter's medical issues were believable, even when he communicated with Gilgamesh. I was glad that Bobby seemed to have a Happy ending. I'd like to see a follow up on Jupiter and Kate.
August 19, 2015
Very interesting read
My rating system is simple: 5 stars are reserved for classic works. 4 are for modern authors who come close to that quality. 3 go to works which are way above usual mundane writing, so this one is a definitely 3. Very unique and good read. If you like something different, this one is for you.
My rating system is simple: 5 stars are reserved for classic works. 4 are for modern authors who come close to that quality. 3 go to works which are way above usual mundane writing, so this one is a definitely 3. Very unique and good read. If you like something different, this one is for you.
September 3, 2014
There was nothing particularly awful about this book. It was just kinda boring. Got 20% through it and then just chalked it up to "so many books, so little time" and moved on. Disappointing.
September 5, 2017
An interesting premise, but the execution fell flat. Too many descriptive words that didn't fit, and metaphors that made me roll my eyes.
July 13, 2018
This was a very clever book. Jones posits that a present day retired Texas ad man living in a renovated grain silo is channeling Gilgamesh, an ancient Sumerian king. His description of small town Texas is spot on and his frequent observations by Gilgamesh are funny, twisted, and way off the mark! Good advice is hard to find...
This was a fun book to read. Caught me by surprise several times. Highly recommended.
This was a fun book to read. Caught me by surprise several times. Highly recommended.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews