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Ben Stempton's Boy
The year is 1972, and Randy Walls is fresh out of the foster care system. Haunted by memories of sexual abuse, he hitchhikes from Pittsburgh to rural Georgia in search of a blood relation. His quest for family is fulfilled in unexpected ways after he makes a deal with Ben Stempton, a grizzled old pulp-wooder. Through events that follow, Randy experiences culture shock, hard labor, funerals, friendship, extramarital sex, and jealousy. When old man Stempton dies in a gruesome accident, Randy shoulders the burden of the man’s business for the sake of his wife and daughter. Episodes unfold, and Randy finds himself holding a baby. Little Benji’s mother is Ben Stempton’s daughter, Stacy. Unfortunately, she is married to Randy’s rival, an abusive redneck named Ty. More tragedy follows, resulting in Stacy’s emotional breakdown. By this time Randy has grown close to his work partner Buster, a light-skinned black youth of uncertain parentage who anchors and guides him. These two plus Benji form an unlikely trio, struggling against vines from the past and present that are as constricting as kudzu—twisted stalks sprouting from society’s soil, Ben Stempton’s grave, and their own personal histories. Breaking free will require drastic measures and the formation of new bonds rooted in love.
446 pages, Paperback
Published October 7, 2019
9 people want to read
About the author
Ron Yates
6 books2 followersRon Yates has been learning to write for most of his life. He whipped out good essays in high school, but his adolescent energies were largely devoted to tinkering with old cars, drag racing, drinking beer, and trying to stay out of trouble.
Although encouraged by his English teachers to pursue higher education, Yates, after graduating high school in lackluster fashion, spent time languishing in factory jobs. An aching back and a caring girlfriend prompted him to explore other options.
His enduring love of reading and nascent knack for writing guided him to a degree in English and a career teaching high school. Years later he earned an MFA in creative writing from Queens University of Charlotte.
Yates, who lives near Mt. Cheaha on the shore of beautiful Lake Wedowee, Alabama, has published stories in a variety of journals including Hemingway Shorts, KYSO Flash, Still: the Journal, The Oddville Press, and Prime Number Magazine. He has a son and daughter and is married to his sweetheart, Carol Yates.
Although encouraged by his English teachers to pursue higher education, Yates, after graduating high school in lackluster fashion, spent time languishing in factory jobs. An aching back and a caring girlfriend prompted him to explore other options.
His enduring love of reading and nascent knack for writing guided him to a degree in English and a career teaching high school. Years later he earned an MFA in creative writing from Queens University of Charlotte.
Yates, who lives near Mt. Cheaha on the shore of beautiful Lake Wedowee, Alabama, has published stories in a variety of journals including Hemingway Shorts, KYSO Flash, Still: the Journal, The Oddville Press, and Prime Number Magazine. He has a son and daughter and is married to his sweetheart, Carol Yates.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
February 26, 2021
“Ben Stempton’s Boy by Ron Yates is an edgy and tense novel—living in that fraught space between good and bad—where Yates’ characters all dwell. . . . His uncanny portrayal of the Gothic will leave you feeling you’ve witnessed it first hand. . . . Yates explores the trappings of poverty, complete with vivid and disturbing characters that are fully developed, and never clichéd, and the southern dialect is perfect, never distracting. Yates asks us to consider the underlying racism in otherwise kind people. In addition to this compelling story, there are twists and turns and always the unexpected. A must-read.”
~Kelly Simmons, author of The Wives of Billie’s Mountain
~Kelly Simmons, author of The Wives of Billie’s Mountain
February 17, 2020
I asked for and received an ARC of Ben Stempton’s Boy.
In the early 70’s, Randy Walls has just “graduated” from foster care. He hitchhikes from Pittsburgh to rural Georgia in search of his last living relative, whom he finds to be recently deceased. On the road again, Randy is picked up by Ben Stempton, a pulp-wooder, who offers him a job. He accepts since he has no other plans and needs the money. He discovers the novel experience of family, and the turbulence of working life in this forever-foreign southern culture. After Stempton dies in a horrible accident, Randy shoulders the burden of the man’s business for the sake of Mrs. Stempton and her daughter Stacy, his new family. He becomes part of a love triangle with Stacy that not only results in tragedy, but somehow leaves him holding the baby – literally. Randy has become close to his black work partner Buster, who is wise beyond his years. With Mrs. Stempton also dead by now and Stacy having a nervous breakdown, Randy and Buster decide to head up north with the baby, who is Randy’s son, although no one except he and Stacy knows that. I couldn’t help wondering how long they would escape retribution, but I guess that is another story! This haunting novel, gritty in parts and lyrical in others, takes the reader on a zig-zag journey of sorrow, anger, and hope.
In the early 70’s, Randy Walls has just “graduated” from foster care. He hitchhikes from Pittsburgh to rural Georgia in search of his last living relative, whom he finds to be recently deceased. On the road again, Randy is picked up by Ben Stempton, a pulp-wooder, who offers him a job. He accepts since he has no other plans and needs the money. He discovers the novel experience of family, and the turbulence of working life in this forever-foreign southern culture. After Stempton dies in a horrible accident, Randy shoulders the burden of the man’s business for the sake of Mrs. Stempton and her daughter Stacy, his new family. He becomes part of a love triangle with Stacy that not only results in tragedy, but somehow leaves him holding the baby – literally. Randy has become close to his black work partner Buster, who is wise beyond his years. With Mrs. Stempton also dead by now and Stacy having a nervous breakdown, Randy and Buster decide to head up north with the baby, who is Randy’s son, although no one except he and Stacy knows that. I couldn’t help wondering how long they would escape retribution, but I guess that is another story! This haunting novel, gritty in parts and lyrical in others, takes the reader on a zig-zag journey of sorrow, anger, and hope.
October 16, 2019
Adventure begins as you unpack an early 1970s time capsule set mainly in West Georgia but also venturing into the heart of Atlanta. For Randy, a Pittsburgh boy who has "just aged out of the system," his life up to now has been one foster home after another. As a wanderer among people he has never known in territory he has never seen, Randy searches with awe and wonder during a confusing time of cultural change for what we all desire: home, his own people, and a satisfying life to call his own. Yates' detailed attention to time, place, character,and plot will pull this story into the heart of its reader. He inserts humor, horror, and familiarity in a carefully crafted story which readers will revisit in their minds long after the last page.
December 13, 2019
In Ron Yates’ debut novel, Randy Walls hitchhikes from Pittsburgh, PA to rural Georgia to escape his orphan past. Soon taken into the world of the Stemptons, he loses his one-time mentor Mr. Stempton to a freak accident loading pulpwood, but not before being introduced to Stempton’s daughter Stacy: a free-spirited, sexually accomplished waitress who seeks out trouble. Stacy’s gay brother Timmy visits from Atlanta after the funeral, and the story takes on a mesmerizing quality not unlike that of Ron Rash’s Serena. Read this book for the character of Stacy: her warmth, prowess, and ability to manipulate. Her gender fluidity and her indecision about being a mother. And most of all for the spell she casts over Randy.
October 31, 2019
Ben Stempton's Boy is a wonderful coming of age story that explores some of the cultural upheavals of the 60s and 70s through eyes that see the events happening outside of himself while still experiencing a shared spirit. This novel that begins innocently with a young northerner newly relocated to the south, an urban dweller in the midst of rural small town folk, in beautiful narrative prose bringing it all to life, overtakes our expectations with increasing momentum. The characters and setting are richly evoked. I thoroughly enjoyed my journey with Ben Stempton's Boy.
June 7, 2021
At Pineapple Hill, my “beach house in a cow pasture” in rural South Carolina, spring opens with small bursts of yellow, pink or white flowers in cottony clusters against a backdrop of pasture land and woods: a dozen different greens all of them brilliantly reborn—and electrified, it seems—while the sky, lit up like neon, is glassy and blue.
Like the world around me, I break out of my winter shell, spending fewer early morning hours in my third floor office and more time outside tending peach trees, a small vineyard, and gardens of bamboo and banana trees. And when evenings are finally cool but no longer cold, I bring a book to the screened porch and climb into a hammock—the Pawley’s Island kind. A breeze moves the ceiling fans just so—they squeak—and Marianne’s twenty-two pound tabby, Bud, my wingman, jumps onto the table beside me. Barn swallows fly in and out of the space beneath us, building nests where a red canoe hangs up high and out of the way. Off in the distance, field grasses sway with a rippling effect that reminds me of the sea. It was here one day recently that I opened my copy of Ron Yates’s novel, Ben Stempton’s Boy. It’s pages were crisp, full of promise and, I quickly learned, genuine truth keepers in their portrayal of the Southern condition: struggle, loss, and recovery—Sisyphus always rolling that boulder uphill—but also warmth, humor, passion, and forgiveness cycling through as our seasons do, sometimes gently, other times with violence. The South is complex. Especially so in 1972, a time of change when old ways were breaking under the weight of new.
Yates opens with a hitchhiker arriving in rural Georgia in search of his only known relative who, it turns out, has already passed. An old man carrying a load of timber gives him a lift, a shack to stay in, and a job clearing land. Day by day, what begins as a temporary respite becomes a place to call home. People and events take hold the way kudzu does as, through the lens of this newcomer from the North, we’re shown the South and her people as they really are: rough yet gentle, loud as firecrackers yet quiet as pine needles, standoffish yet generous. The plot advances easily as if cruising a small town, then it swings out for a tour of the countryside, pulling off for a closer look at a rutted path, then at just the right time it accelerates because believe it or not sometimes the South is in a hurry.
No, I will not give too much away. No spoilers here. Except to promise that Yates shows you the South most never see, and does so with no clichés, just gritty truth. His writing voice is honest and familiar, perfect for probing the complexities of a small dot of a place below the Mason-Dixon line.
Ben Stempton’s Boy is a great fit for hammock-minded stories lovers located the world over.
You’ll want two copies. One for the beach, boat, or book club, and another to share with your friends.
Like the world around me, I break out of my winter shell, spending fewer early morning hours in my third floor office and more time outside tending peach trees, a small vineyard, and gardens of bamboo and banana trees. And when evenings are finally cool but no longer cold, I bring a book to the screened porch and climb into a hammock—the Pawley’s Island kind. A breeze moves the ceiling fans just so—they squeak—and Marianne’s twenty-two pound tabby, Bud, my wingman, jumps onto the table beside me. Barn swallows fly in and out of the space beneath us, building nests where a red canoe hangs up high and out of the way. Off in the distance, field grasses sway with a rippling effect that reminds me of the sea. It was here one day recently that I opened my copy of Ron Yates’s novel, Ben Stempton’s Boy. It’s pages were crisp, full of promise and, I quickly learned, genuine truth keepers in their portrayal of the Southern condition: struggle, loss, and recovery—Sisyphus always rolling that boulder uphill—but also warmth, humor, passion, and forgiveness cycling through as our seasons do, sometimes gently, other times with violence. The South is complex. Especially so in 1972, a time of change when old ways were breaking under the weight of new.
Yates opens with a hitchhiker arriving in rural Georgia in search of his only known relative who, it turns out, has already passed. An old man carrying a load of timber gives him a lift, a shack to stay in, and a job clearing land. Day by day, what begins as a temporary respite becomes a place to call home. People and events take hold the way kudzu does as, through the lens of this newcomer from the North, we’re shown the South and her people as they really are: rough yet gentle, loud as firecrackers yet quiet as pine needles, standoffish yet generous. The plot advances easily as if cruising a small town, then it swings out for a tour of the countryside, pulling off for a closer look at a rutted path, then at just the right time it accelerates because believe it or not sometimes the South is in a hurry.
No, I will not give too much away. No spoilers here. Except to promise that Yates shows you the South most never see, and does so with no clichés, just gritty truth. His writing voice is honest and familiar, perfect for probing the complexities of a small dot of a place below the Mason-Dixon line.
Ben Stempton’s Boy is a great fit for hammock-minded stories lovers located the world over.
You’ll want two copies. One for the beach, boat, or book club, and another to share with your friends.
October 30, 2021
I received a copy of Ron Yates' Ben Stempton's Boy and am grateful I had the chance to read it! The book held me captive, grabbing my full attention in the way only a brilliant novel can. I started it and did little else until I finished it.
Randy is a boy who, as Yates phrases, "graduated from foster care." In the first few pages, you already feel bad for the boy. He hitchhiked to meet his only living relative, who died before he could get to meet him. Back on the side of the road, Randy gets lucky when he gets a ride from Ben Stempton. Soon the reader finds out the who, what, where, and when of Randy.
In the same car ride, Ben offers Randy a job as a pulp wooder. Ben reveals that he recently lost a son and needs someone to fill the position. The metaphor of Ben looking for a son is incredibly heart-warming. To see Ben open his home to a young stranger shows the empathy he has without telling. There is a lot of "show don't tell" throughout the book—a key element to a well-written story.
The detailed descriptions of the characters, along with the "yessirs" and "reckon" use of language, are fantastic. They are sprinkled into the dialogue just enough where you know you're in Georgia, but it's not overwhelming. The same goes for the 1970s era the book is set in. If you're a reader who was not alive then, you clearly see what places, people, and type of work ethic were the norm then.
Yates then introduces you to Stacy, Ben's free-spirited daughter. Randy falls for her, and as they say, one thing leads to another. Stacy becomes pregnant and has a nervous breakdown, complicating things further. Stacy is so believable for what a woman was like in the 70s; progressive, curious, and manipulative. Unlike the stereotype male fleeing from a baby, it is Stacy who leaves Randy with their love-child.
As Randy knows what it is like to be "abandoned" by parents, he takes the baby with him when he decides it is time to move on. This time, he takes his friend Buster who he met through his work as a pulp wooder. Buster is an excellent element of the story. A black man, in the south, befriending a white man and joining him on a trip up north. Again, this could be a cliche having the novel occur in the 70s, but Yates finds a way to make it seem normal.
The story was original, really different, the lead character was believable and likable, and the story swept me along. I won't rehash the story here, I don't want to spoil the book. It also made a refreshing change to read a book narrated by the same character throughout without jumping back and forth between time zones, which seems to be the trend with authors these days. Yates has somehow created aa novel that successfully weaves humor and horror to tell Randy's story. Well-written, great characters, and is a compelling read.
Randy is a boy who, as Yates phrases, "graduated from foster care." In the first few pages, you already feel bad for the boy. He hitchhiked to meet his only living relative, who died before he could get to meet him. Back on the side of the road, Randy gets lucky when he gets a ride from Ben Stempton. Soon the reader finds out the who, what, where, and when of Randy.
In the same car ride, Ben offers Randy a job as a pulp wooder. Ben reveals that he recently lost a son and needs someone to fill the position. The metaphor of Ben looking for a son is incredibly heart-warming. To see Ben open his home to a young stranger shows the empathy he has without telling. There is a lot of "show don't tell" throughout the book—a key element to a well-written story.
The detailed descriptions of the characters, along with the "yessirs" and "reckon" use of language, are fantastic. They are sprinkled into the dialogue just enough where you know you're in Georgia, but it's not overwhelming. The same goes for the 1970s era the book is set in. If you're a reader who was not alive then, you clearly see what places, people, and type of work ethic were the norm then.
Yates then introduces you to Stacy, Ben's free-spirited daughter. Randy falls for her, and as they say, one thing leads to another. Stacy becomes pregnant and has a nervous breakdown, complicating things further. Stacy is so believable for what a woman was like in the 70s; progressive, curious, and manipulative. Unlike the stereotype male fleeing from a baby, it is Stacy who leaves Randy with their love-child.
As Randy knows what it is like to be "abandoned" by parents, he takes the baby with him when he decides it is time to move on. This time, he takes his friend Buster who he met through his work as a pulp wooder. Buster is an excellent element of the story. A black man, in the south, befriending a white man and joining him on a trip up north. Again, this could be a cliche having the novel occur in the 70s, but Yates finds a way to make it seem normal.
The story was original, really different, the lead character was believable and likable, and the story swept me along. I won't rehash the story here, I don't want to spoil the book. It also made a refreshing change to read a book narrated by the same character throughout without jumping back and forth between time zones, which seems to be the trend with authors these days. Yates has somehow created aa novel that successfully weaves humor and horror to tell Randy's story. Well-written, great characters, and is a compelling read.
February 12, 2020
This wonderful book by Ron Yates took me back into a world from my childhood and teen years -- the small-town South in the 70s. As a child, I was protected from many of the harsh and disturbing situations that Yates' characters are subjected to, but I was aware of the reality around me. That reality is portrayed vividly in this book. The characters are so well drawn from the reality of that place and time, they could easily have been real people in the world in which I grew up. I found myself alternately liking and despising characters, who, like real people, are complicated and unpredictable. Southern literature historically has often dealt with ugly and/or disturbing themes, and this book upholds that gothic tradition well. As I read, I was moved, shocked, and surprised, and I came to care what happened to these people. In keeping with his masterful realism, Yates doesn't tie everything up in a nice bow. He left me wanting more!
November 28, 2020
Ben Stempton’s Boy is a trip back to the early 70s, a time of social upheaval. The careful layering of details provides nostalgia for readers old enough to remember, and cultural insight for younger readers. The action takes place in the rural South, where habits and customs are deeply ingrained and secrets slowly fester.
The protagonist, Randy Walls, has just turned eighteen and is out of Pittsburgh's foster care system. He hitchhikes to Georgia in search of a great uncle, his only living relative. This doesn't work out, as the man died a few days before Randy reached the nursing home.
Another old man, Ben Stempton, comes along in a pulpwood truck and picks up the hapless young hitchhiker; after sizing him up, he offers Randy a job and a shack to live in. Thus begins a complicated entanglement and a roller-coaster ride for the characters and the reader.
Randy takes on Ben Stempton’s pulpwood business after the old man gets killed in a gruesome accident. Realizing it’s more than he can do by himself, he hires a helper, a light-skinned black youth named Buster who becomes his best friend and spiritual guide.
Ben Stempton’s daughter Stacy is deeply involved with Ty, her abusive redneck boyfriend. Things get complicated, but every twist and turn is believable, the result of the characters' choices and the circumstances that make them who they are.
Randy develops a hatred for Ty and is almost broken when Stacy marries him. When she tells Randy she’s pregnant and doesn’t want to see him anymore, the gut-wrenching choice he must make will determine not only his future, but the baby’s and his friend’s as well.
Some of the scenes are shocking and many are totally unexpected. The author is able to turn the old Southern stereotypes on their heads. Randy, as the outsider from up north, learns many lessons about love, responsibility, and what makes a family. By the end of the novel—after grueling physical labor, disappointment, and heartbreak—he has found what he came for, and he has become a man.
This novel has substance, leaving the reader with much to think about, but it's also a lively read with a cinematic quality. The many cliffhangers, secrets, and questions keep the reader turning pages. This quality of substance coupled with enjoyable readability is the mark of a talented wordsmith. Indeed, much of the writing is beautiful and poignant without being too florid or sentimental. This is gritty realism at its best.
Fans of realistic literary fiction, the Southern tradition, or Southern Gothic will enjoy this unusual, un-trendy novel.
The protagonist, Randy Walls, has just turned eighteen and is out of Pittsburgh's foster care system. He hitchhikes to Georgia in search of a great uncle, his only living relative. This doesn't work out, as the man died a few days before Randy reached the nursing home.
Another old man, Ben Stempton, comes along in a pulpwood truck and picks up the hapless young hitchhiker; after sizing him up, he offers Randy a job and a shack to live in. Thus begins a complicated entanglement and a roller-coaster ride for the characters and the reader.
Randy takes on Ben Stempton’s pulpwood business after the old man gets killed in a gruesome accident. Realizing it’s more than he can do by himself, he hires a helper, a light-skinned black youth named Buster who becomes his best friend and spiritual guide.
Ben Stempton’s daughter Stacy is deeply involved with Ty, her abusive redneck boyfriend. Things get complicated, but every twist and turn is believable, the result of the characters' choices and the circumstances that make them who they are.
Randy develops a hatred for Ty and is almost broken when Stacy marries him. When she tells Randy she’s pregnant and doesn’t want to see him anymore, the gut-wrenching choice he must make will determine not only his future, but the baby’s and his friend’s as well.
Some of the scenes are shocking and many are totally unexpected. The author is able to turn the old Southern stereotypes on their heads. Randy, as the outsider from up north, learns many lessons about love, responsibility, and what makes a family. By the end of the novel—after grueling physical labor, disappointment, and heartbreak—he has found what he came for, and he has become a man.
This novel has substance, leaving the reader with much to think about, but it's also a lively read with a cinematic quality. The many cliffhangers, secrets, and questions keep the reader turning pages. This quality of substance coupled with enjoyable readability is the mark of a talented wordsmith. Indeed, much of the writing is beautiful and poignant without being too florid or sentimental. This is gritty realism at its best.
Fans of realistic literary fiction, the Southern tradition, or Southern Gothic will enjoy this unusual, un-trendy novel.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews