Empire Of Light

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

"Michael Bible may have hit what a lot of us were trying, a singular new voice for CEOs to slackers. He's so open, so easy, so fluid, you'll smile with joy turning every page." --Barry Hannah A prequel to Michael Bible's Sophia, Gaucho feature a young Maloney and his adoptive father, Frank, who often get into trouble together in their small Carolina town--partly due to Maloney's expansive heart.

Reviews

Bible roots out the sublime pleasures available at the searing edge of depressed feeling. Denis Johnson seems to be the abiding spirit of the novel, which achieves the incendiary strangeness of his prose . . . Bible offers us a remarkable vision of adolescence as not just a time of extreme exposure but one of visionary longing. THE NEW YORK TIMES

"Bibles style is unique: swift, mythic without pretense, eccentric but focused."LITERARY HUB

"A euphoric, one-of-a-kind novel."ARKANSAS INTERNATIONAL

[A] fever dream of a second novel. . .Benzos aplenty are snorted, and hard truths are revealed in modern cowboy-storyteller Maloneys coming-of-age fable. BOOKLIST

Bible revisits the teenage years of the visionary Reverend Alvis Maloney [and] bathes the dark story of teenage rebellion in an otherworldly light, deepening Maloneys intriguing mythology.PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

Michael Bible has the golden hand of Carson McCullers and the joyous cosmic heart of Richard Brautigan. Empire of Light is a truly beautiful book. William Boyle, author of Gravesend and The Lonely Witness

A shorthand masterpiece of style, a tour de force of voice, Empire of Light further establishes Michael Bible as one of his generation's brightest stars. Tom Franklin, author of Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter

Praise for Sophia

Amid the sharp, laconic prose that its structure facilitates, Bible emerges as one of the most interesting and exciting new novelists in years . . . superbly written . . . a rich yet entirely unpretentious debut that, just as its conclusion marks a promising new start for its cast, marks a very promising start for its author. Electric Literature

Poetic and with flashes of brilliance . . . IfSophiais any indication, we have a promising new writer here, who, like his main character, might be on a pilgrimage of his own. NPR

[Bibles] short, comic novel, which relates a bibulous Southern preachers perverse quest for sainthood, is full of small miracles. Publishers Weekly, starred review

Bible delivers an elliptical, provocative novella about the profane and the spiritual, all of it drenched in sweat, sex, and booze. Kirkus Reviews

Most contemporary fiction makes me wonder why people try to write anymore. Michael Bible helps me remember why. Blake Butler, author ofThree Hundred Million

Yes, the spirit of Barry Hannah resides inSophia, but, as Reverend Maloney so eloquently puts it, Now is now and then was then. Bibles talent is such that he knows how to take scripture and bend and twist it into something that can exist in both heaven and hell. This is an ecstatic novel, and Bible is a fantastic writer. Kevin Wilson, author ofThe FamilyFang

Michael BiblesSophiais a real howl of a book. It will drill holes inside your head and then fill them with a rushing pop of words. Its a wild journey from the deep south to New York City, with detours for chess tournaments, sexual escapades, and encounters with the holy ghost along the way. Theres a lot of pain inside this book, too, but dont worry: youll enjoy it. Scott McClanahan, author ofCrapalacia

Author Bio

Michael Bible is originally from North Carolina. He studied under Barry Hannah at Ole Miss and worked with David Milch adapting William Faulkner's Light in August for HBO. He is the author of Sophia (Melville House), the chapbooks Gorilla Math (Greying Ghost Press) and My Second Best Bear Rug (Paper Hero Press) and the novellas Simple Machines (Publishing Genius) and Cowboy Maloney's Electric City (Dark Sky Books). His work has appeared in Oxford American, The Paris Review Daily, Al Jazeera America, ESPN- the Magazine and New York Tyrant.