A Guide to Bars and Nightlife in the Sacred City Benjamin Wachs 9780979327070 Books
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"I was traveling across America, and then Europe, and then Russia, and then the Middle East," author Benjamin Wachs says of these 26 remarkable tales, "waking up each morning not knowing which city I would fall asleep in. Cities became pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, connecting in ways that you could not see on a map, to reveal the secret order of the universe."
While these fictional accounts had their visible beginnings in a freelance journalist's world travel, they had their inner beginnings in the fertile workings of a remarkable mind. My own sense of the author, watching him in my writing workshops in San Francisco week after week spin these remarkable, wry, otherworldly tales with the fluid ease of a savant, seemingly unaware of his own genius, is that he is doing something notable and unusual, and it is for that reason that we committed to publishing this book.
Among the tales I am most fond of are "Thanatos Cuisine," in which a chef creates dishes too hot to endure yet too delicious to turn down, and "Feeding Time," about the choices a brilliant homeless outcast forces upon those who try to help him. "Childhoods on Display in Boston" evokes our cultural hunger for a neatly commodified past; finally, perhaps my personal favorite, "Some of the Social Issues Surrounding Jazz," blows a sad eulogy for a great American art form that loses its roots in the street the more it is celebrated in the university.
Almost all these tales originated in the San Francisco workshop, springing astonishing and fully formed in our living room, with that Benjamin Wachs aura of magical, unconscious coming-into-being, a crystalline fragility fused with intellectual rigor and challenge.
"If we tape enough heartfelt wishes on streetlights and leave enough dreams on the curb, anything can happen," Wachs says in his preface. "Millions of souls in crowded neighborhoods praying beneath the surface of their daily lives lead to manifestations of the miraculous and infernal just around the corner. A block of Paris where fire dancers spin outside Notre Dame connects to a sliver of Chicago where angels dance in a speakeasy, that attaches to miraculous Thai food in London, and to a faith healing in San Francisco, to an architectural marvel in Moscow and a tantric revelation in New Orleans, to a lost opera in Vienna and a resurrection in Pittsburgh, and the perfect couch appearing on Craigslist in Toronto. Never stopping. This is the Sacred City."
-- Cary Tennis, publisher
A Guide to Bars and Nightlife in the Sacred City Benjamin Wachs 9780979327070 Books
I've long been a fan of the short story, but as a genre, it seems to have lost its popularity. It's doubtful the short story will ever return to the lofty heights of its golden in the 20's/30's...but this delightful collection is certainly its best to compete with the heavy hitters of those earlier eras.I bought this book a couple of years ago, out of sheer curiosity, and keep returning to it periodically; the first time through was just for me, but subsequent times have been to read selections to friends. There's a mystical undertone to all of the pieces, but it varies enough in intensity that there's something there for pretty much everyone.
It's hard to choose a favorite - it changes, depending on my mood and the location and who's listening, but Free Will is always going to be at the top of the list.
The golden age of the short story is probably gone forever, but this is a gorgeous example of what a modern interpretation of the genre can be.
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A Guide to Bars and Nightlife in the Sacred City Benjamin Wachs 9780979327070 Books Reviews
This is a wonderfully quirky collection of (mostly very short) short stories. I bought this book based on a recommendation seen online. No regrets. I found myself reading the stories almost non-stop. I enjoyed my stay within the pages of this book so much that I actually slowed down my reading to have more time with the book. Some stories I reread almost immediately. This collection is not necessarily an easy read the author is a person of “culture” and he weaves a rich tapestry of storytelling, clever observations and educated musings on philosophy and life. Benjamin Wachs’ writing does not bog you down with literary curlicues and unnecessary prose. Mostly written in the first-person, these story will take you to unexpected places. And although many of the stories are short, they sure pack a punch.This is a book that I will definitively re-read soon. I look forward to reading more from this author.
Read the whole book in one evening, and I love it. A great balance of cleverness, drama and fun. I think all the stories have something to highly recommend them, but my particular favorite was Elijah Drinks Chimay for sheer philosophical value. Though it's not as action packed as some of the others, it's couched in an very unique and engaging way. My favorite quote out of the entire thing (possibly for idiosyncratic reasons that have to do with thinking it's hilarious to irritate certain friends who are kind to put up with me) is from a different story though. It's as follows
'"I understand perfectly," says the man in white.'
And if you want to know any more about that, you'll have to read the book ;)
I read this book while traveling, which may be the best way to read it. Wachs' narrative voice wanders all over the world, settles in dark, forgotten corners of ancient cities, and spins tales of arcane and mystical delights.
I don't exaggerate when I say I wish there were more writers like this. I love his unwavering commitment to the strange and unreal, his economy with words, his open, unironic sense of wonder. He lets the uncanny be uncanny (even if his narrators try sometimes to be sarcastic about it), he lets his stories end still buds in the readers mind, trusting that they will flower in those brainpans given just a bit of time.
That sense of wonder which sometimes (all the time?) borders on the religious is something I see in older literature and something I find starkly lacking in much of contemporary literature. This book keeps that little flame burning.
If you'd like to be delighted, if you'd like to be unmoored for just a few pages from your mundane existence, if you'd like something to think about--read these stories.
This collection of short stories reads like the foggy memory of the night in our collective youth when a decision was made to go out alone looking for nothing at all and finding meaning in the things that just happened. And that's not an easy thing to do. You certainly can't write these thoughts down while you're still seeing if you can keep up with the required number of shots to prove you're a man. And often, if you've been successful in that endeavor, you won't be able to summon them afterward either.
Many of thesecharacters speak about themselves in the way that people do in bars, trying to be noticed or understood, pontificating about the very things they cannot see in their own reflections - well, I mean, we all do that, but it's in chiaroscuro when liquor is flowing. It's a difficult but important display to have the good fortune to witness while sober. Memorable characters enter, make scenes, leave us hanging and wanting more. The very polished "Free Will" stood out to me. I've taken all the players home with me - though I can't recall exactly when and they never called though they said they would. I have a feeling they're hanging with someone more fun.
There's something very interesting about peeking into slices of others' lives through the personae they have on display in watering holes. It's partly pure act people put on, and partly more intimate than many manage to allow in their deepest relationships - the booze and anonymity acting like an invisible confessional. Can you blame them? Who hasn't had a passing thought that bottles of many colors, stacked neatly in their chaos look just like a stained glass bricolage of despair, loneliness, desire, and vice in general. But just as most of us have visions of genius in our dreams and roll over, hitting the alarm snooze while letting them slip away, so do we order another round and forget about the Sacred City and it's secrets in shadows, sacrifices to egos, screaming out about others' egos and self-immolation.
I'm just glad someone was taking notes.
I've long been a fan of the short story, but as a genre, it seems to have lost its popularity. It's doubtful the short story will ever return to the lofty heights of its golden in the 20's/30's...but this delightful collection is certainly its best to compete with the heavy hitters of those earlier eras.
I bought this book a couple of years ago, out of sheer curiosity, and keep returning to it periodically; the first time through was just for me, but subsequent times have been to read selections to friends. There's a mystical undertone to all of the pieces, but it varies enough in intensity that there's something there for pretty much everyone.
It's hard to choose a favorite - it changes, depending on my mood and the location and who's listening, but Free Will is always going to be at the top of the list.
The golden age of the short story is probably gone forever, but this is a gorgeous example of what a modern interpretation of the genre can be.
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