Laredo

by Tony Rauch

Readers will delight in Rauch's mix of science fiction, surrealism and fantasy. His fiction features the absurd, the silly, the dream-like, the fairytale, all blended with the unexpected; and thematically explores the human condition, a person's search for his or her place in an indifferent world, with underlying subtexts of loss, regret, confusion, loneliness, ambivalence, impermanence.

"Tony Rauch's fictions capture a sense of the irreal with style and precision. Here is an author who effectively represents the rabid intricacies of absurd life, using the colloquial to convey the Byzantine." - D. Harlan Wilson, author of Blankety Blank: A Memoir of Vulgarity

"With each story, Tony Rauch invites you into a house he has built in space, decorated with the absurd humor of Barry Yourgrau and the neuroses of Woody Allen." - Andersen Prunty, author of The Overwhelming Urge

Genres: Bizarro Fiction

220 pages, Paperback

First published May 7, 2008

About the author

Tony Rauch is an architectural and urban designer, and an all-around great guy filled with nothing but good things. Good things.

He has two books of funky/jazzy/arty short stories in print: I’m Right Here (Spout Press) and Laredo (Eraserhead Press). Some dark and gothic, some kinda sci-fi, some absurdist, some experimental, some fairytale, some fantasy-ish, some dream-like and surreal, some social satire.

His two screenplays are available for reading on his website.

Eraserhead Press plans to publish additional collections of his short stories, beginning with Now We Can Buy a Monkey (surreal, action adventure, fantasy, sci-fi, dream-like pieces) and then Despite Our Best Efforts (absurdist pieces).

Reviews

[Anita Dalton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I both enjoyed this collection and found it maddening. I like Rauch’s simple yet meandering approach to prose. His words at times are delightfully combined and the stories as a whole are far less insane than one often finds in bizarro fiction. But at times the stories, especially the first story in the collection, went on far too long for my tastes. And that is what is so maddening because even as I reread the stories I like the least, I could not find anything technically deficient with them. In fact, I think the real maddening element was that I felt like these were stories I could have written myself and being unable to see them unfold as I wanted made me nervous.

So instead of force my tastes into a discussion wherein I end up panning a good story that simply was not my cup of tea or appearing as I would have wanted had I written it, I am going to discuss the stories that were, to my sensibilities, mostly excellent. This is a collection of stories that discusses longing, human frailty and occasionally gives the readers a happy ending when they least expect it. Little doses of magical realism, large doses of love-sick men, and stories that, had they been trimmed down a bit, would have been near perfect. Read my entire review here.

[Grady · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wisps of Imagination: Making the World Make Sense

Tony Rauch apparently started hearing voices and having hallucinations around 1997 - at least that is the date of his collection of stories, I'M RIGHT HERE, was made public. Since then he has added tot he growing rumor that he is one of the most original tinkers of words around, spending time jotting on paper (or whatever) the kinds of fantasies we all have but are embarrassed to admit. No, Tony Rauch is not a drifter or one of those hairy, sit in the corner of Starbucks types, the kind of guy we all imagine (tucked into our designer clothes ordering java du jour and snickering. In his words 'I am an architectural and urban designer, and an all-around great guy filled with nothing but good things. Good things. I have three books published -1.) I'm Right Here - funky/jazzy/arty short stories, 2.) Laredo - funky/jazzy/arty short stories, 3.) eyeballs growing all over me . . again - young adult fairy tale surreal fantasy action adventure sci-fi short stories (although adults will dig these fables too).'

This reader began the journey inside this writer's mind by reading EYEBALLS GROWING ALL OVER ME...AGAIN and funky as that experience was, it was a bit addicting. So on to LAREDO. In this collection Rauch quotes scripture (no sure whether it is real or not as it has been a while since reading it...) and then sails off into neverland with five sections of grouped tales - 'slowly into the air', 'let's talk some words', 'the perfect seasons', 'do you still have your leather jacket?', and 'in my pajamas'. No idea where the sectional titles come from but each is accompanied by a manipulated funky photograph that reflects at least on story n the group. In 'what you're missing' he discovers his ex-lover has turned into an ant! and after a long discussion with her on the floor of his garage cum greenhouse, he summarizes his experience thusly: 'This entire episode has only hardened my opinion that I've been spending way too much time preoccupied with the frivolous and unmeaningful - light bulbs and shoelaces, and not enough time on meeting new and interesting people, making new connections with others, so many people just coming and going in life, too many of them lost to the mists and shadows of time. I mean, I should join a bowling league or a chess club or something. This entire episode has only heightened my fear that I really don't understand this life at all. It's all just a vast mystery. And all too slippery and elusive for me to grasp.' And he leaves us there, looking around to see if anyone saw how caught up we became in his fantasy - it is just that vivid. In 'annalonia' he awakens, noting that he acquired a tail, looks in the mirror to see that he now has many mouths - lots of physical changes in his habitus and his only real concern is that this is the day for an important job interview: 'Maybe each of us are evolving into terrific new creatures, each one of us stretching and growing and changing. Anyway, the job interview goes pretty well considering.'

That is what this little book is full of - stories that are absurd, just like life is absurd, and Tony Rauch may not intend us to go there, but once this book is opened there is no alternative than to expect the extraordinary. And welcome to it.

Grady Harp

[Dustin Reade · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a hard book to rate, as far as stars go. I mean, I really liked most of the stories, though I must say the first story, "what you're missing" went on for waaaaaaay too long. I mean, it was a great story, with an interesting premise and fully realized characters talking to each other in a believable way, but it was just too much. I got the point of the story within a few pages, but still had to read through ten more.
Don't get me wrong, it wasn't like it was torture or anything. Far from it. All of the stories in this collection are worth reading, even the longer ones. Even the first one I just said was too long was all the while entertaining and even funny in some parts.
My favorites, though, were the shorter pieces. Tony Rauch really seems to have a knack for "flash" fiction. In particular I liked the stories: "the onion" "I'm afraid the president may be shrinking" and "slowly into the air". These stories all had a unique, almost dreamlike quality to them that I really enjoyed. They felt dark, humorous, surreal, and different from any other short stories I can recall reading. They are sort of like the short films of David Lynch. Yeah. They are the literary equivalent of that. Which is, I think, one of the actual descriptions used to define the Bizarro Genre as a whole.
I do not think it would be an exaggeration to say that, if one is completely new to the Bizarro genre, this collection would be an excellent place to start. The new reader would find the transition from horror, sci-fi, or fantasy to bizarro easy with these stories.

Also, after reading these stories, I believe I am now suffering from a curious form of melancholy.

In the old days, people believed Melancholy to be caused by demons.

Just sayin'.