Nothing but the Dead and Dying

by Ryan W. Bradley

"Bradley's stories will grab you by the balls and not let go." —Bonnie Jo Campbell, National Book Award nominated author

"Beautiful, dangerous, hardcore, and strong enough to break your ice-brittled bones." —David Abrams, author of Fobbit

A woman flees the hospital even as her infant son is breathing his last breaths. An aging construction worker comes to grips with the end of the only life he’s ever known. A deadbeat father meets his son for the first time, only to be blindsided by the boy’s birth defect. A man steals a corpse in order to give his father the burial he wanted.

In Nothing but the Dead and Dying, Ryan W. Bradley takes listeners into the world of blue-collar Alaska, reflecting on all that is unique about the rough and untamed state while touching on the basic truths about what it means to be human.

The twenty-plus stories in this collection are tied together by the Alaskan landscape, exploring the diverse ways in which people manage life’s difficulties. The characters are laborers in a harshly beautiful environment, something that is echoed in their relationships with friends, family, and lovers.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

200 pages, Paperback

First published December 2, 2015

About the author

Ryan W. Bradley has pumped gas, changed oil, painted houses, swept the floor of a mechanic's shop, worked on a construction crew in the Arctic Circle, fronted a punk band, and managed an independent children's bookstore. He now works in marketing for a library system. He received his MFA from Pacific University and has been published widely online and in print.

He is the author of eight books, including Prize Winners, Code for Failure, and Winterswim. His latest book, Nothing but the Dead and Dying is out now!

Reviews

[Lori]

The long awaited release ofNothing but the Dead and Dying is exactly that, a collection of short stories that all revolve around the dead, the dying, and the not-yet-born. Prepare yourself for sex and unwanted pregnancies, ill infants and parents who just can't deal, people recovering from or suffering because of something, a couple of dead dogs, and a handful of absent fathers.

Within these beautifully told stories, Ryan has created tiny worlds that are just as bleak and ruthless as the cold, Alaskan backdrop they are each set in.

I've been a fan of Ryan's writing for quite some time, the man couldn't write a bad story if he tried. Except when he's ruthlessly killing animals in his fiction! Less dog deaths, I beg you!

[Benoit Lelièvre]

Perused through the majority of this bad boy in one fiery, surreal Sunday while nursing a monster hangover and slipping back and forth into unconsciousness. It was perfect, lead me to dream dreams filled with snow, drama and domestic tragedies. It's my third Bradley and while I find his style thoroughly engaging and his honesty raw and destabilizing, I was surprised not to find his trademark haunting spareness in this collection.

NOTHING BUT THE DEAD AND DYING has more in common with a gritty Raymond Carver that the unique and timeless masterpiece WINTERSWIM for example, which stood tall and mighty in the landscape of contemporary literature. Stories like VALLEY OF THE MOON, WEST and THE CONVERGENCE OF CONTACT were worth the price of admission alone. Solid and moving book that highlights the extraordinary nature of ordinary people. Thought it lacked a little bit of the stylistic flare Bradley is usually bringing, but otherwise it was very good.

[Dennis Zachman]

Stands with Hemingway's earlier short works, or, Salinger's 'Nine Stories', as a strong memorable collection of stories. I'm going to read more from this author.

[Panagiotis]

Ο Bradley είναι ένας άνθρωπος δεμένος με τον τόπο που γεννήθηκε, ζει και εργάζεται. Οι ιστορίες του σ' αυτήν την συλλογή διαδραματίζονται στην Αλάσκα, με τον κόσμο μάλλον να μην μπορεί να ξεφύγει από την μοίρα του. Ο τόπος τους κρατάει σαν αιχμαλωτισμένα έντομα, να ζουν μια ζωή σκληρή, μουντή, δίχως ελπίδα για μια άσπρη μέρα.

Δεν είναι λίγοι οι συγγραφείς που καταπιάνονται με τόπους όπου καθορίζουν τη μοίρα των ανθρώπων τους. Εκεί όπου αν γεννηθείς, οι πιθανότητες να ξεφύγεις από την μοίρα των προγόνων σου είναι σχεδόν ανύπαρκτες. Το βιβλίο στο νου μου έφερε μυθιστορήματα του Thompson, του Donald Ray Pollock και του William Gay. Μέχρι και τα όνειρα τέτοιων δύστυχων ανθρώπων φαίνεται να είναι τσακισμένα, να φιδοσέρνονται ανάμεσα σε ποταπές επιδιώξεις, που κι αυτές τελικά ξεψυχάνε ατελέσφορες. Η Ανταρκτική είναι μια Αμερικάνικη επικράτεια, με στόχο την εκμετάλλευση φυσικών της πόρων. Άνθρωποι έχουν πάει εκεί να βρουν ένα καλύτερο οικονομικό αύριο, αλλά ο Bradley, που έχει κάνει πάμπολλες δουλειές, δεν τους χαρίζεται. Παρόλο που αγαπάει τον τόπο του, δεν τον αναδεικνύει μέσα από ρομαντικές εικόνες. Τον παρουσιάζει τραχύ, άγονο.

Γράφει πολύ όμορφα ο Bradley, και δεν υπήρξε στιγμή να βαρεθώ στο βιβλίο του. Ωστόσο δεν γινόταν κάτι συνταρακτικό και η μίζερια ως βασικό διηγηματικό στοιχείο έκανε τις ιστορίες να μοιάζουν μεταξύ τους. Τον Bradley δεν τον ενδιέφερε να εντείνει το δράμα και την αγωνία, αλλά να αφήσει την πραγματικότητα να μιλήσει από μόνη της. Ήταν καθημερινές ιστορίες, με καθημερινούς ανθρώπους Εμένα, όμως, μου λείπει το δράμα, θέλω το κάτιτις παραπάνω που θα κάνει την πραγματικότητα και το καθημερινό υλικό για ιστορίες που θα με συνεπάρουν.

[Anna]

I live in a country of perpetual sunshine, sandy beaches, excellent seafood, a complete cliché by most accounts. So here is what's exotic to me: Perpetual snow. The arctic circle. Sunless winter days. The midnight sun. Alaska.

There's 24 stories here, heart-wrenching or hopeful, depending on your outlook. There are no resolutions on offer, no shortcuts, everything is open-ended. The book is filled with tales of second chances, making amends, trying your best, coming to terms with bitter truths. There's fathers looking to reconnect, teenagers overcome with abrupt adulthood, recovering patients, hard-working people. At first glance, the scenarios and characters seem like the product of their harsh and unforgiving environment. I wonder though, if you switch the arctic circle with any location that's fallen on hard times or requires major adjustments to make things work, how much would change? My most educated guess is not much, minus the snow. This was actually my favorite thing about Nothing but the Dead and Dying; as far as I'm concerned the setting is just a bonus, these stories are universal at their core. Everyone has a mountain to climb after all.

Stories that sang (or screeched) their way into my heart: Coming Home, The Bathroom Wall, The Pitbull's Tooth, and West are not for the fainthearted, they are set up to make the reader uncomfortable. Specifically for West, I find it extremely sad that the moment a school is set as a background, there will be a shooting incident coming, almost à la Chekhov at this point. Guilt Names and Trench Swimmer, two lovely short-form stories that still manage to pack quite the punch. Speaking of punches, Glaciers, and especially its couple of last paragraphs felt like being beaten with beautiful, velvet gloves. Love and Death in the Moose League gets an honorable mention for making the person furthest away from baseball enjoy a story about a baseball pro. Valley of the Moon, about a father trying to hold on to a relationship with his kid, had a similar melancholic tone. Perhaps my favorite, Like Swimming, a worker struggling with short-term memory troubles, definitely hit close to home.

This book is raw and tender at the same time. I made my first notes on it at the beach. I had to dust some sand off them. Might as well have been snow.

[Frederic]

This is a very, very good collection. Actually, you know what? It's a great collection. I read Bradley's Winterswim a while back, and I loved that one, too. Winterswim edged close to horror at times. I mean, there were some wonderfully nasty bits in that one. But Nothing but the Dead and Dying took me to another place. It took me back into a kind of Carver country. I have dubbed Ryan W. Bradley the Alaskan Raymond Carver after reading these tales, and I think you'll know why once you pick the book up. There is that same sense of loss, desperation, sadness, etc. that you find in many a Carver story. There is a weariness to these ordinary people that will hit you right in the guts.
Winterswim fans should get a jolt out of "Coming Home." It gives you that same unsettling feeling that you are witnessing something that you really should be turning away from. Hell, you should be running away from it. But my favorite story had to be "Like Swimming." That's the one that gave me chills. It's just so damn good. It feels to me like the one that ought to be anthologized in college textbooks or something.
Seriously, pick this one up. You won't be disappointed.

[Jan Dale]

A stunning collection of short stories. Bradley's description of loss, love and work in the Arctic is hard-hitting and compassionate. A gem!

[Andrea]

As somebody said it before (and better): Bradley's stories grab you, and they punch you.
I >h*a*t*e< sports, yet that story about an old prof player really moved me. If you like short stories you must check this out.

[Ray Nessly]

Published in Literary Orphans Issue 29

The people of Alaska are the subject of Ryan W. Bradley's outstanding collection of short stories, Nothing But The Dead And Dying. The harsh environment is but another challenge for hard-working folks dealing with unfulfilling jobs, troubled relationships, illness, addiction, or worse, deadly violence. Bradley's minimalist writing style pushes descriptions and scenery to the background and concentrates on the essential. As famed author Donald Ray Pollack enthusiastically observed, Bradley writes "in spare, unadorned prose reminiscent of Willy Vlautin and Raymond Carver." (Now that is a compliment to die for.)
Nicely balanced between character-driven and plot-driven, these stories are fast-moving, and yes, they entertain. But most of all they reveal the author's gift, which is to create painfully realistic characters. Having faced setback after setback, they are burdened with complicated, often conflicting emotions. To bring them to life and make the reader understand their inner workings, as Bradley has done, requires a writer who not only possesses the chops to find the right words—that snip of dialogue; that just-right turn of phrase—but who also completely understands human nature, and has shared some of his characters' life experiences. (Bradley has had numerous "blue-collar" type jobs, including working on a construction crew in the Arctic Circle. )
My favorite stories in this collection, are:
"The Long Grass" —A teenaged boy's awkward first sexual experience is complicated by guilt and dread, worrying that his father will find out he accidentally killed his dog. "Julius' father had gotten [the dog] in the divorce, the only thing he'd really fought for, giving up the custody battle as soon as Julius' mother dangled the rights to the dog."
"Glaciers"—Heartbreaking and beautifully told, depicts the burdens of debt and life-threatening illness on patient and caretaker alike. "Maybe she'll bring him lunch, like she used to. Surprise him with fresh steak or ribs. Or she'll keep driving to the places where there is no development, no dirt to move. She will find a glacier, where her skin can adopt the pale blue of the ice, still hard, refusing to melt for anyone or anything."
"Love And Death In The Moose League"—An aging, former major league pitcher hangs onto a secret as well as what's left of his dignity in this poignant story that has just the right touch of humor. "Patterson wound up and as he released the ball there was a pop in his shoulder.… The whole stadium was silent. The ball was laying in the grass not ten feet in front of the mound. Patterson looked at it in disbelief. Even the ump was bewildered. It was a few seconds before he walked in front of the plate and called 'ball.' "
"WEST"—This tale of mass murder at a high school switches between point of view characters to excellent effect. The story dramatizes what plausibly motivates many such shootings, and is all the more chilling and tragic because intimate details about the victims are revealed. The last few lines are not ones the reader will easily shake off.
"Morning For Night"—A portrait of infidelity, of one-night stands, in the far north. The protagonist wonders "how it will all play out in the morning. How the sunlight will move on their bodies, the tangle of sheets. Like the slope, he thinks, seeing the sun in the middle of the night, it doesn't feel right or wrong. You just get used to it."
"All Things Infinite"—Bradley's homage to a mentor. A man buries his father at sea, Viking-style, in a small boat set aflame. He recalls what his old man told him once: " 'There's no rule book for fathering, Boy-o,' he said. 'I did my best and you turned out all right from where I'm sitting.' "
These are not only my favorites in this collection; they are some of the best stories I've read in years.
Nothing But The Dead And Dying is published by CCM.
http://copingmechanisms.net/portfolio...

[Hetch Litman]

this is a stellar collection of short fiction. so much humanity packed in theses pages. this is the first book I've read from this author and if this is any indication of the talent that may be found ib his longer form fiction I'm going all in.

[Charlene]

I loved all the stories I read in Ryan Bradley’s Nothing But the Dead and Dying, straightforward, real tales about people who don’t seem to have been born with a lot of luck, who don’t seem to make a lot on their own. Bradley dishes it, dishes it hard, making for a sobering read.

[Andrew]

6/10