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Leonard Nash |
November 10th- 11th, 2007 Miami Book Fair International
On November 3, 2007 I read and signed books at Word Traffic Books, an exciting addition to the Tallahassee, Florida literary scene. (Event flier). They are located at 1227 E. Lafayette Street not far from the state capitol and right behind New Leaf Market.
October 18, 2007 Florida Gulf Coast University (Estero, Florida)
October 16, 2007 Books and Books (Coral Gables, FL)
September 23, 2007 Books and Books (Coral Gables, FL)
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Reviews: ("Many gifted writers say they start with a character and build their story from there. Leonard Nash has authored thirteen such stories, and in each one the character is so strongly written the reader comes to feel he knows this person. You Can't Get There from Here and Other Stories will hold your attention." (Full Text) —The Compulsive Reader
"Having grown up in south Florida in the 70s and 80s, I know well the world Leonard Nash captures in his debut short story collection You Can't Get There from Here and Other Stories. Nash nails the sense of place here, from the street names to the landscape's flora, from the withering humidity to the anemic listlessness of spirit that haunted, and in some cases still haunts, neighborhoods in Palm Beach, Broward, and Dade counties. ..." (Full Text) —The Florida Book Review
"No one should
be able to write this damn good the first time out. Leonard Nash’s
You Can’t Get There from Here is more than a promising debut by a
gifted fiction writer; it’s a mesmerizing collection of the first
order. I was flat knocked out! The stories here are full of
wisdom and wit, tenderness and honesty. The book is funny and as
serious as a heart attack. The people in Nash’s John Dufresne—JOHNNY TOO BAD
“Leonard Nash has produced a debut collection that is as down-home powerful and rock-ribbed as any I have read in years. Many of these pieces are as dead-pan and dead-on as Ray Carver’s, and with every bit as much heart." Les Standiford—LAST TRAIN TO PARADISE
"In clean, incisive prose, Leonard Nash lays bare the lives of ordinary folks who are caught up in the emotionally charged struggles of modern life. His attention to detail, his vivid scenes, his juicy, crunchy characters all resonate long after the stories end. This is a strong and touching collection. James W. Hall—magic city
"Leonard Nash's stories have style, wit, irony, and a sharp eye for dissecting the contemporary mating dance." Dan Wakefield—the hijacking of Jesus
Characters so real you'll feel they are sitting next to you telling their tales of the pathos and bathos that makes the secrets of each life compelling. Leonard Nash is a first-rate observer of humankind, and his stories give a clear glimpse into the essential survivor in each of us. John Bond--The Home Poker Handbook (with Roy Cook)
Leonard Nash’s superb collection, You Can’t Get There from Here, characters and their objects constantly transform, take on new lives. Owners exchange used cars, a pregnancy kit found in the trash, and a dead mother’s penny-filled Dippity-Do jars, all to surprising and significant results. Nash’s inventiveness and wit infuse every sentence. His stories are set in south Florida—its beauty, transience, and fragility fitting metaphors for his continuous discoveries. Denise Duhamel--Two And Two
In this beautiful collection, Leonard Nash summons characters who suffer through their lives, often nicked and scraped by pain and indignity. But against this backdrop of sorrow come moments of real redemption. Like Raymond Carver, Leonard Nash tells stories of average people living mundane lives, but also, like Carver, he brings moments of flashing insight so intense they hurt and delight us. And ultimately, like those characters, we are uplifted, almost saved, while at the same time our hearts are breaking, one sentence at a time. Jesse Millner--On the Saturday After the Rapture
Leonard Nash blends pain and profundity with the practiced ease of a master tale spinner. Each story is a triumph of poignancy, humor, and insight into the human condition. You Can’t Get There from Here is a book of heart songs—of love, of loss, of longing—every magical word of it reads like truth. Preston L. Allen--All Or Nothing
Acute insight and deft imagery reminiscent of Raymond Carver draw the reader into Leonard Nash's native South Florida environment, following his characters on an elusive search for love and reasonable happiness, wringing pleasure from life's stubborn ambiguities in story after story. Vicki Hendricks--Cruel Poetry |
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