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PICADOR SHOTS - A Mean Utility
In June, 2006, Picador launch Picador Shots, a new series of pocket-sized books priced at 1. The Shots aim to promote the short story as well as the work of some Picador's greatest authors. They will be contemporarily packaged but ultimately disposable books that are the ideal literary alternative to a magazine.
Craig Davidson's stories from "Rust and Bone" will one of the first of the Shots. In steel-tipped prose, Craig Davidson conjures up a world populated by hard-scrabble pugilists, fighting dogs, sex addicts and others held caption by their own bad luck and bad decisions. In 'A Mean Utility', a young couple with struggling careers and serious issues with conceiving play out their own troubles through the dogs their raise to fight to the death. In 'Life in the Flesh' a ex-boxer escapes to Thailand to try and come to terms with killing his final opponent during a fight. He buries himself in training up-and-coming boxers but the arrival of 'The Kid' - 'late twenties, baggy board-shorts and garish Hawaiian shirt, eyes dark behind oversize wraparounds' challenges him in more ways than he could ever have imagined.
Davidson's stories are small monuments to the telling detail which, despite the darkness within them, also contain moment of redemption and surprising humanity. Visceral and urgent, in turns hilarious and horrifying, these stories are a gripping account of life on the margins.
Praise for" Rust and Bone":
'Stark oppositions often pack the punch in these gritty tales about American tough guys on the ropes... This salty collection more than whets the appetite for Davidson's novel, The Pit, due next year' Guardian
'Throughout, the author harnesses his incredible insight to illuminate his characters' fight, rendering their struggle in spare, startling detail and revealing whole lives in a fistful of pages. But what sets Davidson apart from his peers is the sheer energy and clarity of his prose, all eight of the stories blasting forth with fresh, precise imagery' The List
Craig Davidson's stories from "Rust and Bone" will one of the first of the Shots. In steel-tipped prose, Craig Davidson conjures up a world populated by hard-scrabble pugilists, fighting dogs, sex addicts and others held caption by their own bad luck and bad decisions. In 'A Mean Utility', a young couple with struggling careers and serious issues with conceiving play out their own troubles through the dogs their raise to fight to the death. In 'Life in the Flesh' a ex-boxer escapes to Thailand to try and come to terms with killing his final opponent during a fight. He buries himself in training up-and-coming boxers but the arrival of 'The Kid' - 'late twenties, baggy board-shorts and garish Hawaiian shirt, eyes dark behind oversize wraparounds' challenges him in more ways than he could ever have imagined.
Davidson's stories are small monuments to the telling detail which, despite the darkness within them, also contain moment of redemption and surprising humanity. Visceral and urgent, in turns hilarious and horrifying, these stories are a gripping account of life on the margins.
Praise for" Rust and Bone":
'Stark oppositions often pack the punch in these gritty tales about American tough guys on the ropes... This salty collection more than whets the appetite for Davidson's novel, The Pit, due next year' Guardian
'Throughout, the author harnesses his incredible insight to illuminate his characters' fight, rendering their struggle in spare, startling detail and revealing whole lives in a fistful of pages. But what sets Davidson apart from his peers is the sheer energy and clarity of his prose, all eight of the stories blasting forth with fresh, precise imagery' The List
62 pages, Paperback
First published June 16, 2006
About the author
Craig Davidson
28 books870 followersCraig Davidson is a Canadian author of short stories and novels, who has published work under both his own name and the pen names Patrick Lestewka and Nick Cutter
Born in Toronto, Ontario, he was raised in Calgary and St. Catharines.
His first short story collection, Rust and Bone, was published in September 2005 by Penguin Books Canada, and was a finalist for the 2006 Danuta Gleed Literary Award. Stories in Rust and Bone have also been adapted into a play by Australian playwright Caleb Lewis and a film by French director Jacques Audiard.
Davidson also released a novel in 2007 named The Fighter. During the course of his research of the novel, Davidson went on a 16-week steroid cycle. To promote the release of the novel, Davidson participated in a fully sanctioned boxing match against Toronto poet Michael Knox at Florida Jack's Boxing Gym; for the novel's subsequent release in the United States, he organized a similar promotional boxing match against Jonathan Ames. Davidson lost both matches.
His 2013 novel Cataract City was named as a longlisted nominee for the 2013 Scotiabank Giller Prize.
Born in Toronto, Ontario, he was raised in Calgary and St. Catharines.
His first short story collection, Rust and Bone, was published in September 2005 by Penguin Books Canada, and was a finalist for the 2006 Danuta Gleed Literary Award. Stories in Rust and Bone have also been adapted into a play by Australian playwright Caleb Lewis and a film by French director Jacques Audiard.
Davidson also released a novel in 2007 named The Fighter. During the course of his research of the novel, Davidson went on a 16-week steroid cycle. To promote the release of the novel, Davidson participated in a fully sanctioned boxing match against Toronto poet Michael Knox at Florida Jack's Boxing Gym; for the novel's subsequent release in the United States, he organized a similar promotional boxing match against Jonathan Ames. Davidson lost both matches.
His 2013 novel Cataract City was named as a longlisted nominee for the 2013 Scotiabank Giller Prize.
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