Though Charles Portis is best known for his fiction writing, he is also a prolific essayist, travel writer, and newspaper reporter. Collected here in "Escape Velocity," edited by Jay Jennings, is his "miscellany" -- journalism, short fiction, memoir, and even the play "Delray's New Moon," published [...]

Lamar Jimmerson is the leader of the Gnomon Society, the international fraternal order dedicated to preserving the arcane wisdom of the lost city of Atlantis. Stationed in France in 1917, Jimmerson comes across a little book crammed with Atlantean puzzles, Egyptian riddles, and extended alchemical m[...]

There is no knowing what lies in a man's heart. On a trip to buy ponies, Frank Ross is killed by one of his own workers. Tom Chaney shoots him down in the street for a horse, $150 cash, and two Californian gold pieces. Ross's unusually mature and single-minded fourteen-year-old daughter Mattie trave[...]

Ex-marine and troubadour Norwood Pratt gets involved in a wild journey that takes him in and out of stolen cars, freight trains, and buses. As with all of Portis's fiction (including "True Grit"), the tone is cool, sympathetic, funny, and undeniability American.[...]

"True Grit" tells the story of Mattie Ross, who is just fourteen when the coward Tom Chaney shoots her father down in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and robs him of his life, his horse, and $150 in cash. Mattie leaves home to avenge her father's blood. With one-eyed Rooster Cogburn, the meanest available U.S[...]

True Grit publicerades för första gången 1968 och har blivit förlaga till två filmer klassikern från 1969 med John Wayne i huvudrollen, och nu bröderna Coens filmatisering med Oscarsvinnaren Jeff Bridges, Hailee Steinfeld, Matt Damon och Josh Brolin i huvudrollerna.

True Grit är [...]

Frank Ross on matkalla ostamaan poneja 1870-luvun Arkansasissa, kun hänen palkollisensa Tom Chaney ampuu hänet hevosen, kahden kultahipun ja 150 dollarin takia. Viranomaisten jäädessä toimettomiksi pippurinen 14-vuotias Mattie päättää kostaa isänsä murhan. Avukseen hän taivuttaa liittova[...]