Nothing like these stories exists in American fiction. The Tongues of Men "Writing that is tough, intelligent, and decidedly germane." - Hayden Carruth, The Chicago Daily News "Such gems as would make a fight with the smut vigilantes worthwhile." - Library Journal   These eleven tales - three short novels and eight short stories - by John Schultz combine stark but heroic tragedy with an almost Rabelaisian bawdry and wicked good humor. The stories explore some of the classic American archetypes. "Witness," for one, depicts the initiation into manhood of an Ozark lad driven to fury by his beloved uncle Jack’s mysterious slaughter of a stranger. "Custom" involves the comic but nightmarish dilemma of the travelling salesman: How to find a woman in a strange town? ("Custom" was at the center of a controversy involving the ACLU, Grove Press, and media nation-wide concerning the seizure of John Schultz’s manuscripts by customs officials in Laredo, Texas.) "Morgan" explores the power and odd purity of evil as it is found among GIs during the Korean War. The other eight tales, written in the same hard-bitten, masculine prose, are as powerful and memorable. They tell of good and evil, violence and harsh but tender male desire.

The eleven stories include dream and realistic stories, about murder and community justice, travelling salesman in a strange town looking for a woman and/or a whorehouse, Korean War events, conflicts between American soldiers and Korean populace and between American soldiers and themselves, alcoholism, family conflicts, alienation, sex, fantasy assassination, home invasion, humans flying, and beings that live under the bed. The stories are told from first, third, and "community" points of view.

ISBN: 0-9667557-0-7

352 pp., List Price: $24.95

Praise for The Tongues of Men

"Schultz is a story teller in the best tradition... humor which frames the most inventive of characters. The serious studies are astonishing and fresh, and again bear unique characters." -Keith Felton, Los Angeles Times Calendar

"The Tongues of Men is an extraordinary collection as much for the diversity of fictional forms as well as the always succinct style and often arresting imagery. I must say, I had a conception of John Schultz’s prose as realistic, hard-hitting, semi-autobiographical recollection; and though I knew his humor (as though he had leavened James Jones with the irony of Algren and the whimsy of Saroyan), I was totally surprised and delighted by the sheer phantasmagoric madness of stories like ‘Custom’ and ‘The Hickory Stick Rider.’ The fact is, there is no easy way to categorize the range of stories in The Tongues of Men, which is a sure sign that Schultz is breaking new ground. And yet, at the same time, in a story like ‘Visit to My Grandfather’s Grave Alone,’ he shows that he can inhabit the genre of personal confessional/recollection with absolute control and yet great tenderness and full play of emotions."
-Gerald Nicosia, author of Memory Babe: A Critical Biography of Jack Kerouac

"A richly imaginative, uncompromising book.... The subjects and themes are more pertinent than ever... The novella ‘Custom’ can stand on its own as a relentlessly vivid portrayal of the mind of a tormented and threatened character. And it is unlikely that a reader will ever forget the wild and outrageous developments in stories like ‘Morgan,’ ‘Daley Goes Home,’ and ‘The Hickory Stick Rider,’ as well as the important issues they raise. The book cuts deeply, far more deeply than does much of the reticent, overly cool ‘minimalist’ fiction practiced by some writers today. Its imaginative strength is apparent at every turn in the clarity and forcefulness of the voice that Mr. Schultz so effectively sustains.... Few writers, I believe, have explored the Korean War with the inventiveness and insight that John Schultz brings to this often-overlooked passage in America’s recent history." -Fred Shafer, Special Projects Editor, TriQuarterly

The Tongues of Men - Table of Contents

	I WITNESS CUSTOM MORGAN
	II THE HICKORY STICK RIDER EENIE MEENIE MINIE MO DALEY GOES HOME
	III VISIT TO MY GRANDFATHER’S GRAVE ALONE ECHO JESSE HAD A WIFE THE OFFENDING PARTY GOODBYE

	Click left to order The Tongues of Men from Amazon.com
	Click left for excerpts from The Tongues of Men
	Click left to return Home
	Click left to contact John Schultz
	Click left to order The Tongues of Men directly from the publisher