Spurred on by duty and admiration, I've read almost everything Mr. Rich has published. But The Everlasting is easily his best and most enjoyable work yet. I'm only about a third of the way through and am having a hard time pacing myself enough to enjoy the story rather than giving in to my "what happens next?!?" impulse to finish it in a caffine-fueled evening.
Not only has Mr. Rich produced a wonderful bit of modern fiction (much of which I'm sure is only a half-step away from reality) but he is giving away more of it free fuckin' gratis. Blurring the already hazy line, Lance Scott has stepped out of the novel and is miraculously updating an honest to goodness Livejournal page, which you may find here.
But wait, as they say... There's more.
The Everlasting shoots off from the same world as Love The Way You Love, which in turn ties in to Rich's first novel: Cut My Hair. It's a dense world where things play off themselves and reflect through different perspectives and times. I just read a chapter in The Everlasting that explains in more depth the first pages of LTWYL. Rich was even bold enough to drop mention of his novella I Was Someone Dead, and I'm curious to see how he ties up, which I assume will happen in his forthcoming third novel.
I'm resisting the urge to get too analytical about any of this because, honestly, these books are all really fun to read. They are fiction only in the sense that people with these names and exact histories do not exist. But they are grounded in the real world physically, culturally and - most importantly - emotionally. If you haven't gotten it by Chrismukkah, I'm making The Everlasting my yarmulke stuffer.
-Thank you for reading.
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