{"id":25867,"date":"2014-06-04T12:38:00","date_gmt":"2014-06-04T18:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=25867"},"modified":"2018-12-10T15:12:34","modified_gmt":"2018-12-10T21:12:34","slug":"a-complicated-web-nate-liederbachs-negative-spaces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/a-complicated-web-nate-liederbachs-negative-spaces\/","title":{"rendered":"A Complicated Web: Nate Liederbach’s Negative Spaces"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"negativespaces\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Nate Liederbach’s Negative Spaces is a short collection of three stories \u2014 just 82 pages \u2014 packed with magical writing and imagery that sticks with you long after you’ve closed the covers. Set in the American West and Midwest \u2014 Idaho, Colorado, Kansas \u2014 this is a challenging but quite entertaining volume that demands close attention for its sometimes lyrical, sometimes raw language and complex plotting. Had this book met the length requirement for the 15 Bytes Book Awards, it may very well have been short-listed for the prize.<\/p>\n

How\u2019d she turn the engine over? Set aside the gun? She couldn\u2019t have. In her retreated mind, in this present, all she recalls is her head aching a starry rhythm.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So begins \u201cGenghis\u2019 Knoll,\u201d an edgy seat-of-your-pants puzzler that takes a turn leaving you somewhat breathless and admiring of this Trickster writer who leads you down such a deliciously twisted path. There\u2019s a little sci-fi, a little Ken Kesey, a little Zane Grey and more all mixed together in this dazzling piece of writing. It has to do with a woman and her beloved, diabetic Genghis, with the \u201chuge, gooey eyes,\u201d whom she has tried to protect from the world at all costs. But finds she is unable to:<\/p>\n

“A bone to the dog is not charity.”
\nJack London said that. She memorized this quote, even considered more than a few times having it tattooed across her shoulders. Said, “Charity is the bone shared with the dog, when you are just as hungry as the dog.\u201d
\nShe wasn’t a lesbo. Wasn’t a girl. Wasn’t a daughter. Wasn’t a lover. Wasn’t a killer. Was just hungry, always hungrier, but not now. She was filling up, could feel it . . .<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cAcross from The Fish Station\u201d is a graphic, laugh-out-loud funny (much of the time) take on the only two casually misogynistic men (loathed by female classmates \u2013 bemusedly adored by the woman professor) ever to take a course on \u201cVirginity and Mythos.\u201d (It\u2019s a big class \u2013 stadium seating.) Or at least one of them clearly is a misogynist; the other sometimes seems faintly embarrassed and perplexed by his pal. He\u2019s not having a change of heart, but may be having a change of philosophy. He\u2019s apparently becoming frustrated that they are living \u201c[w]hitebread lives, Ikea lives . . .\u00a0 [with] only \u2018Virginity and Mythos\u2019 to break up the monotony.\u201d One penultimate night they are treated to a viewing of some erotic, grisly, Steppenwolfian theatre. Girl-style.<\/p>\n

The third and final story, \u201cThe Long Tunnel,\u201d is a childhood tale of exploration and discovery, set in the early \u201880s, with a fabulous twist, of course.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bravery! The glory! My backyard all the way to Porter Place Shopping Center, a total scoutage of our flood-drainage system. Plan being the thing\u2019s entirety, no climbing out. But nil reneging means a definite negotiation of the Long Tunnel. Means siblings cannot be told in case siblings rat. To the folks, the mothers, mine surely, but especially Jacob\u2019s, that large and Jehovah-howling procreatrix of Amazonic beauty.<\/p>\n

Why such vehemence in the gal? As my young ears have heard whisper (albeit never directly), Jacob\u2019s uncle perished by flash flood.\u00a0 . . . and I stand, index fingers spittled and aloft, eyes perusing the skies for pending furor.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It\u2019s a wonderful Huckleberry-type adventure that, along the way, takes a sad turn to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a retirement home and a funeral. But the boys are thoroughly endearing \u2014 until they grow up. You’ll see. Liederbach again spins a complicated web.<\/p>\n

I delighted in the author\u2019s creative allusions to the everyday that made me reach \u2014 and reach way back \u2014 for comprehension (to Aqua-net, for instance, which I\u2019d clean forgotten \u2014 and no, it\u2019s nothing to do with online \u2014 to Davey Lynch; Fat Man and Little Boy; to Christian music diva Amy Grant). Younger readers \u2014 though this book clearly is not for very young readers \u2014 will have to grasp some of these from context, but that\u2019s often readily done.<\/p>\n

The pacing was perfect in the stories in this collection; the writing moved along at a mesmerizing clip and, although the ending of \u201cThe Long Tunnel\u201d seemed abrupt, it was fitting.\u00a0 (This was the only story where I came up for air once or twice \u2014 it seemed to allow breaks for a cup of tea to be made.)<\/p>\n

As is frequent in contemporary fiction, there\u2019s liberal use of the F-word and adult settings. Didn\u2019t bother me a bit; it might you, so fair warning.<\/p>\n

Yes, those apparently are eye sockets in Daniel Barron\u2019s cover art for the book. Filled with something or another with a straw, perhaps? It seems that a void, a \u201cnegative space,\u201d really must be stuffed. And that\u2019s made clear throughout Negative Spaces.<\/p>\n

Negative Spaces: Stories
\nby Nate Liederbach
\nElik Press
\nJanuary, 2013
\n82 pgs
\n$9.95<\/p>\n

About the Author
\nLiederbach, 40, who splits his time between Eugene, OR, and Salt Lake City, is the author of the story collection Doing a Bit of Bleeding, and co-editor, with James Harris, of Of a Monstrous Child:\u00a0 An Anthology of Creative Writing Relationships. His Tongues of Men and of Angels: Nonfictions Ataxia is forthcoming.<\/p>\n

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Nate Liederbach’s Negative Spaces is a short collection of three stories \u2014 just 82 pages \u2014 packed with magical writing and imagery that sticks with you long after you’ve closed the covers. Set in the American West and Midwest \u2014 Idaho, Colorado, Kansas \u2014 this is a challenging […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":844,"featured_media":25868,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_piecal_is_event":false,"_piecal_start_date":"","_piecal_end_date":"","_piecal_is_allday":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,35],"tags":[1983],"class_list":["post-25867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-reviews","category-literary-arts","tag-nate-liederbach"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/negativespaces.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-30 10:36:40","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/844"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25867"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25867\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41158,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25867\/revisions\/41158"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}