PRAISE for the NOWHERE MAN
“Marlon Fick is a writer of high energy, imagination, and intelligence. His work is for the human voice and the human ear.” —Thomas Lux
“Marlon L. Fick joins an honorable group of ex-patriot American writers —Katherine Ann Porter, Hart Crane—making the most out of theLatin Experience . . . ” —Jonathan Holden
“Impressive and magnificent—a serene lyricism and narration which is both tender and passionate. Destined one day to be a classic.” —Myriam Moscona for National Public TV, Mexico
ABOUT the BOOK
Comrade Collins follows the life and travels of an American novelist, Bolivar Collins, from his youth to adulthood through the later half of the 20th century, a time of war and political turmoil. Socially awkward and introverted, Collins looks for answers in books of philosophy, trying to understand the chaos around him and the chaos he feels. When he cannot find explanations for the mysteries of human behavior, human sexuality, love, war, etc., he attempts to apply philosophical explanations, which in turn results in black irony. Rapid changes in settings—from the United States, to France and Spain, then to Gabon, the Congo, and Zaire, then to Cuba, Nicaragua, and Mexico—echo Collin’s own evolution, while external forces beyond his control place him directly in the path of history: The man, who began as a bookish adolescent, is compelled to participate in the Nicaraguan Civil War, presumably as “a spy.” Caught between allegiances—the United States vs. his family, now Cuban—Collins becomes a fugitive, wanted by the FBI and the CIA.
ABOUT the ARTIST
Christian Duran is a Cuban-American painter, born in Miami, Florida where he lives and works. He received a Florida Individual Artist Fellowship Grant (2006) and an Artist in Residence at La Fundación Valparaiso (2001) in Almería, Spain. His work has been exhibited in many solo, two-person and group exhibitions, and has been featured in the books, 100 Southern Artists and Miami Contemporary Artists. Duran’s art focuses on themes related to nature, the human anatomy, and religion.
Marlon L. Fick divides his time between his home in Mexico City and his work in China. The author of four previous books, he is a recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts award in writing. Books include El Nino de Safo, Histerias Minimas, and Selected Poems. Fick edited and translated the anthology, The River Is Wide/El río es ancho: Twenty Mexican Poets, a Bilingual Anthology.
