Benjamin Percy’s The Wilding
So my review is now up at TNB. Go check it out, peeps.
If you haven’t read Ben’s work, well, you need to go do that. I can’t remember the last time I found a new voice that captivated me as much as Ben Percy. It started with the story, “Refresh, Refresh” in an issue of The Paris Review that my friend Drew McCoy showed me. From there, I got the collection, Refresh, Refresh. It’s like the first time I read Chuck Palahniuk, or Brian Evenson, or Will Christopher Baer. It hooked me for life.
His work it typically focused on the outdoors, such as Oregon, but not always. He taps into the universal truths that I’m trying to find in my own work. And he does it with authority and emotion.
I’ve been lucky enough to meet Ben at various AWPs, talk a bit, listen to him read (good lord the man is a baritone, a bass, makes Barry White sound like a soprano) at various panels, and talk via email. He’s good people – talented, generous with his time, and all kinds of cool. The Wilding is his first novel, and I can’t wait to read more of his work.
- Richard Thomas - 