Ed Bryant compared this story of Royce’s to Jim Thompson at our reading. I haven’t read any Thompson, so to me what this read like was Joe R. Lansdale. Royce’s poor white trash live in New Mexico rather than East Texas, but they have that same lazy, good-for-nothing attitude that just seems to attract trouble like a magnet. The ending here is sudden–possibly too sudden, as if there were a scene or two missing. Royce is someone to watch for, however.

[Finished 21 March 1993]