Robert Gish's stories of the old and new West speak of the search for a region of the mind and heart, as much as the places where westerners live out their personal dramas. For some the West remains a destination of renewal and hope, like Coronado's Quivira, promising escape from wrong starts and thwarted desires, and holding out the possibility of transformation. For others it is the graveyard of expectations, or the entrance to a darker inner territory where desires are shaped by loss and violated innocence. From a spirited recreation of Elfego Baca's historic gun battle against a hoard of murderous Texas cowboys, to a coming-of-age story that suggests a near magical masculine-feminine duality, Gish's stories are animated by passionate tensions between landscapes and cultures, universal dilemmas and private lives. Written in a lyrical yet earthy style that reflects the dreams and conflicts of his characters, these stories draw strength from Gish's deep roots in the West and from his singular ability to lay bare the longings of the human heart.
About the Author:
Robert Franklin Gish, Ph.D, heads the Ethnic Studies Department and is a professor of English and ethnic studies at California Polytechnic State University. A native of Albuquerque, New Mexico, Gish is the author of numerous essays and books on ethnicity and the American West, including "Beyond Bounds: Cross-Cultural Essays on Anglo, American Indian, and Chicano Literature"; "Nueva Granada: Paul Horgan and the Southwest"; "When Coyote Howls: A Lavaland Fable"; and "Songs of My Hunter Heart: A Western Kinship." His other collections of short fiction include "First Horses: Stories of the New West" and "Bad Boys and Black Sheep: Fateful Tales from the West."
