The Silver Hearted - Softcover

McConnell, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1593501404 ISBN 13: 9781593501402

Publisher: Alyson Pubns, 2010

Synopsis

“The Silver Hearted is our Heart of Darkness. It is just as ominous, as violent, as exotic, as darkly colonial. But it is a lot better written than Conrad’s book. Whereas Conrad is always resorting to ‘the unspeakable,’ McConnell tells us everything in glowing detail and in fresh, eloquent language. Sexy, demonic, elusive, The Silver Hearted is a perfect work of art.”—Edmund White

Set against a background of revolution and profiteering of an unnamed port town, the story’s unnamed narrator is hired to protect a vast sum of money shadowy investors have entrusted to him. Literally chests of silver coins, this fortune must be protected at all costs. He turns for assistance to a naïve sailor, beautiful and young, who helps the narrator evacuate his money from a trading emporium overrun by violent mobs. With a hopeless fondness, the boy wants acknowledgement that lives have been destroyed for the sake of money. Unfortunately the ruthless calculus of profit and loss has an eerie appeal the narrator can’t shake, and the mobs are closing in. And he again has to get his fortune out of the city he’s found uneasy shelter in.

New York-based novelist David McConnell, whose short fiction and criticism have appeared in numerous periodicals and anthologies, is the author of the fictional memoir The Firebrat.

About this title

About the Author:

New York-based novelist David McConnell, whose short fiction and criticism have appeared in numerous periodicals and anthologies, is the author of the fictional memoir The Firebrat.

From Publishers Weekly:

McConnell (The Firebrat) delivers an inventive if slightly flat tale of intrigue set in a volatile near future as an unnamed narrator is tasked with protecting a mysterious and valuable load of cargo. When his latest hideout gets attacked, the narrator pays teenage sailor Topher to take him on and help him transport and safeguard the cargo. The narrator's erotic attraction to Topher grows, and soon they discover the crates contain a vast load of silver that constitutes a not inconsiderable fortune in the revolutionary times. A flurry of thin secondary characters attempt to undermine the protagonist's faith in Topher, who, meanwhile, may have a number of enemies from his past tracking them, as well. The best parts of this novel are its descriptions of the pursuit and hunts, and while the port city locals are convincingly gritty, the distance McConnell leaves between character and reader makes it difficult to connect. (Feb.)
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About this edition

• Publisher: Alyson Pubns
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1593501404
• ISBN 13: 9781593501402
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 213