Street Roots • July 7-13, 2017
Book Review
Page 11
Two books set in the Pacific Northwest from the DIY shelf
BY DOUGLAS SPANGLE
recommended it then; I feel the same now,
but twice as much.
IY literature, though easy enough to
Per Fagereng faced a similar problem,
once his novel, Jack Moloney’s Century, was
produce, is difficult to get to the
written, and this author, with some
public. Once it is written, someone
must publish it. Corporate empire-building
computer skills, used Amazon.com’s
has brought us to the pass that about three
CreateSpace to design and produce a book
media conglomerates control not only
(and list it on Amazon’s website in both
production, but also distribution of books.
hard copy and electronic forms.)
Smaller presses only have the resources to
Fagereng, a long-time Portland
publish a few titles annually. If an author
contrarian, labor specialist, radio host and
lacks the connections to get a publisher,
jack-of-all-trades, is a born storyteller who
self-publishing is the only recourse.
has written a very readable novel. It’s a bit
In 1999, Portland writer Rick Rubin
rough about the edges, but has narrative
fulfilled a labor of love when he wrote and
force and character depth to burn. If this
published Naked Against the Rain, The
had been written in the 50s or 60s, it would
People of the Lower Columbia River, 1770-
have been perfect fare for a second-tier
1830, an intriguing and thoroughly
paperback house specializing in science
researched history of the Native people who fiction. It’s a alternate/near-future story, and
lived here before they were decimated by
it bears certain resemblances to Walter M.
disease and the settlers’ lust for land. He
Miller’s under-appreciated classic A Canticle
brought a unique perspective to the story,
for Leibowitz.
bringing anthropology and folklore to bear,
In Fagereng’s tale, Jack Moloney, born
unlike a conventional white-written
about 1980, leaves his violence-ridden home
chronicle. He published it in a small edition
of Northern Ireland and signs up to work on
under his own imprint. And there it stayed.
a cruise liner, then jumps ship in New York.
Rubin died a couple of years ago.
He meets Barbara, a Long Island girl who is
The book fell into the hands of Rene
itching to leave her home and family, and
Denfeld, another Portland writer, who had a
they both set out, like a latter-day Lewis and
connection with a medium-size press,
Clark, on what turns out to be a multi-
Pharos Editions, which specializes in high-
generational continent-spanning trek. They
quality reprints, and brought out a second,
wind up first in rural Michigan, where they
larger edition. Denfeld wrote a new
start a homestead operation, farming,
introduction, and so this readable and
stilling, playing music, doing whatever
valuable book has gotten a new life, with
comes to hand. By this time, the country
much better circulation than before. The
has started to come apart at the seams: oil
point is that if Rubin had not believed
reserves have begun to run out, and
enough in his sweetheart project to design
technology drops a notch or two. They make
and publish it in the first place, it wouldn’t
do, utilizing alternative forms of energy.
exist at all. Now the book has outlived its
They band together with a few other hardy
author. I reviewed the first publication and
individuals: a recusant priest, a Guatemalan
C O N T R IB U T IN G C O L U M N IS T
D
Naked Against
the Rain, The
People of the
Lower Columbia
River, 1770-1830,
by Rick Rubin,
Second Edition,
Introduction by
Rene Denfeld
refugee, among others, for mutual defense.
Many of them, including Jack, are
undocumented.
Finally, tired of long winters, bandits and
corporatists who hunger for land they use
for plantations worked by convicts and
unemployed digit-pushers, this multi-
generational expedition sets off west in a
collection of makeshift vehicles.
The disintegration of the United States
has seriously set in. The former
superhighways are ruins, haunted by former
big city-dwellers and escaped inmates. The
Midwest is in a state of chaos. A Mormon
empire sprawls to the foot of the Rockies. A
secessionist area that calls itself Aztlan
occupies the former Southwest. Los
Angeles is in open revolt against the United
States and under siege by a loyalist San
Diego. The actual United States is limited
to a few areas on the East and West Coasts,
and politicians are forced to make a long
journey back to Washington D.C., which has
largely reverted to swamp. A small
collection of corrupt and feckless politicians
swap terms in the White House. Jack’s band
of refugees is hoping to get to Portland,
where an old friend of his has settled.
Portland, which in Fagereng’s world is
esteemed as the best surviving place,
comprises a network of Dignity Villages
where brokerages and tech firms once rose,
their former workforce mostly laboring as
farmhands. Jack’s son Patrick saws and
pries up chunks of the concrete airport
runway to use for building. Good beer is
still to be had, Powells Books is still in
business. KBOO is still on the air. DIY wins
in his DIY novel, which for all its rough
edges charms the reader.
Jack Moloney’s
Century, by Per
Fagereng
D
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