The Speed of Life: An Illustrated Novel - Softcover

Jordan, James Victor

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1732514305 ISBN 13: 9781732514300

Publisher: Turning Leaf Books, 2018

Synopsis

THE SPEED OF LIFE launches with a crime so horrific that if the first great tragedians—Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides—had imagined it, no historical record remains to prove it. From themes as modern as #MeToo to leitmotifs of Greek tragedy, Western philosophy, and modern understandings of astrophysics, the novel tells the stories of diverse characters who are brought together by the seminal crime and rewards the reader with psychological revelations worthy of Stendhal.

Praise for The Speed of Life:

"From the courtroom to the swamp primeval to the underpinnings of the universe, James Jordan takes us on a wild ride. A hugely ambitious and thoroughly enjoyable triumph of a first novel. All I can say is "Bravo!"

T.C. Boyle Author of The Tortilla Curtain.

"I hugely enjoyed this remarkable novel. It blends human courage & cruelties with solid astrophysics and with Seminole culture & mythology – resulting in a richness that held me tightly in its grip.

"Kip S. Thorne, Winner of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics; Executive Producer, co-story writer, and science adviser for the movie "Interstellar."

"The Speed of Life is a fast-paced, character-rich, thought-provoking novel that takes the reader from the heart of Western philosophy and civilization to the heart of millennial America. A fine storyteller, James Jordan knows his characters and where all their secrets are buried, and something more—the hope still strong in their restless, striving hearts. A remarkable debut.

"Aram Saroyan winner of the William Carlos Williams award for best poetry collection.

"The Speed of Life, by James Victor Jordan, is a ground-breaking, scientific/philosophical novel wrapped in a Carl Hiaasen-flavored thriller. Jordan relates cutting edge theoretical physics to ancient Seminole shamanic practices and produces a credible explanation of why and how old magical methods may have tangible effects in our world. At the same time, this novel is sparklingly contemporary, bright and crisp around the edges of its plot, and ingenious in braiding elaborate story lines to bring an extraordinary cast of characters together. And it fires itself forward at a break-neck velocity; this is not a book you will want to put down."

Madison Smartt Bell, winner of the Pen/Faulkner Award and National Book Award finalist for All Souls Rising.

"What happens when a horrendous crime threatens a mother’s love for her son? An old Florida family and those in their orbit get caught in a torrent of passion, a deadly legal system, and the mythology of the Everglades, which runs as deep as this story does. Propulsive, evocative, beautiful writing."

Tom Holland, screenwriter of Psycho II, writer-director of Fright Night, Child’s Play, Stephen King’s Thinner“

Impressive . . . Descriptions . . . are primarily images that Jordan sears onto the pages.”

Kirkus Reviews

About this title

From the Author:

Used as an adjective, "novel" means original or striking in conception or style: strange, unusual.  Or more simply, quoting Ron Carlson addressing a writing workshop I attended at Kenyon College, novel means something new.  Used as a noun the word can mean: an invented prose narrative of considerable length and a certain complexity that deals imaginatively with human experience through a connected sequence of events involving a group of persons in a specific setting. This gave me the idea to make everything in The Speed of Life new if I could.  I told the story in part through a court opinion in Part V, "Merchants of Justice:" fiction posing as nonfiction.  In Part II, "Andrew," I included a Seminole folk tale: How Dog Lost His Voice. One part of the novel is told in part from the point of view of Betty Mae, a shaman traveling in hidden reality to the outskirts of the Milky Way.  The reader also meets Georges Bohem, a brilliant successful lawyer. We see him shining in court.  Then we see him at 16, trying to figure out girls.  We see his losses of love, his struggles as a single father.  Each chapter in which he appears illuminates him in a new way.  A vital essence of his adult character is captured, I hope, in the illustration on the title page of Part III, Georges.How do these thoughts relate to the topic of Art and Commerce?  After meeting many of the gatekeepers guarding the House of Literary Fiction--editors, agents, interns--I find it easy to compare them to Dante's guardians at the gates to the Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso: the Leopard of Malice, the Lion of Violence, and the She-Wolf of incontinence.  It's unlikely these guardians want something truly new and original.  That would be too risky.

About the Author:

James Victor Jordan, a descendant of Eastern European shamans, writes fiction to explore justice, multiculturalism, spiritualism, and nature. His short stories have been widely published.  He is an attorney holding a JD degree from UCLA and a Master of Professional Writing degree from the University of Southern California. He lives in Santa Monica, California with his best friends: Andrea, his wife and UC, their standard poodle.    

About this edition

• Publisher: Turning Leaf Books
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1732514305
• ISBN 13: 9781732514300
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 297
• Illustrator: Savage Eric