Pineville Trace

By: Wes Blake

Narrated by: Michael Mau

Winner of the Etchings Press Book Prize

“A man escapes from prison only to find he can’t separate himself from his past. Pineville Trace is a story of a man on the run. Wes Blake renders the tale with great empathy and in language that’s so lyrical it practically lifts from the page. Blake is a writer to watch.”

—Lee Martin, author of the Pulitzer Prize Finalist The Bright Forever

"This was an utterly compelling read. Blake’s prose is sparse and simple, whose short, almost broken, sentences sing with enormous power. This is the hollow heart of Frank’s magic, and provides a powerful indictment of the American Dream – what does one become if one can embody and enact all of one’s desires? Blake’s answer to this is captivating, sophisticated, and utterly haunting."

—SmokeLong Quarterly Review by A W Earl

"A haunting debut! Despite his own certainty that he is a fraud, Frank emerges for the reader as the truest kind of prophet, following a cat named Buffalo and searching for “the old magic.”

—Julie Hensley, author of Five Oaks

Wes Blake tells a parallel story in Pineville Trace. Like a photo and its negative, the narrative follows similar characters and situations as Frank is rewriting over his past to make sense of it. Following the Buffalo—or, at least, a cat named Buffalo—Frank Russet mulls over his past in a layered narrative that would lead you deeper into the wilderness with no way out. Blake’s debut novella plays with time, begging the reader to follow along and trust the ride. Frank is a protagonist filled with guilt, searching for meaning in the forest with his cat, Buffalo.

“[Frank] had become an actor in his own life. Reading a script.”

As Frank traverses the shadowy edges of society, he encounters remnants of his former self, forcing him to confront his deepest regrets and desires. Blake’s haunting prose captures the essence of a man on the brink of transformation, urging readers to ponder the thin line between redemption and damnation.

©2024 Etchings Press (P)2024 Nonesuch Stories

Overwritten rumination of the past

Well written but tedious contemplation of the past. First few chapters were best, and author broke fourth wall early but, unfortunately, didn't repeat.

However, the descriptions were overwritten, presumably to compensate for a paucity of action and almost zero dialog. IMO, too much of the cat and too little story.

True Americana, languid and devastating

A magnificent yet elusive tale of a man taking his time getting to the end of his rope. Told in a sparse but charged and portentous prose in the tradition of Sam Shepard or Raymond Carver, Pineville Trace is an odyssey in novella form. A disgraced and diminished revival preacher walks away from a minimum security facility and into whatever awaits.

Poetic

Great prose, emotionally provoking, perfect road trip listening. I listened to it in one sitting because I did not want to turn it off.