Happy book birthday this week to Doug Rice and his newest book Here Lies Memory: A Pittsburgh Novel! A deeply felt and deeply considered novel that deals with family trauma, the echoes of the Vietnam War, and extended contemplations on how we experience and are shaped by memory, Here Lies Memory is an interesting addition to the Doug Rice catalog of experimental, speculative, and intensely personal writing. Buy your copy here.

I’m really excited that Doug found a home for his novel with Black Scat Books. We met in 2014 while at Akademie Schloss Solitude and I heard a lot about the book those days, sitting out on the castle steps and walking the forests. Both of us were working on historical novels at the time and we had a lot to talk about. It’s pretty cool to see Doug’s in print, with mine coming along next year. Congrats, Doug!

HERE LIES MEMORY explores the place of memory in living, daily, scarred and sacred lives. Two Pittsburgh families struggle to survive trauma and love. A man wills himself to go blind, not to forget, but to remember in new ways. Another man drinks beer after beer until he can no longer drink away what he must face directly. This novel explores what language and photographs do to memory, desire, and love, and what gentrification is doing to the souls of families and neighborhoods.