The Man Who Walked to the Moon: A Novella

Marchinko meets Samuel Beckett in this static, very strange debut about a Marine-turned-hitman-turned-hermit who wanders ""the moon,"" his preferred peak in Nevada's Steen Mountains. Narrator William Gasper opens the story with a walkabout in his favorite terrain. As the narrative unfolds, Gasper realizes that he's being stalked by an armed enemy; he begins to turn the tables on his stalker before encountering yet another pair of would-be killers from his violent past. The plot never builds much steam; more problematic, however, are Gasper's misogynist musings on his battles over the years with a mythical adversary he refers to as ""the hag,"" a bizarre goddess figure who haunts Gasper's memories and imaginings. A hunting subplot holds some promise but bogs down in Gasper's ramblings, which include a variety of dubious political and antisocial rants and a great deal of embarrassing pseudo-intellectualism (""The tongue licking the mustache after a cup of tea holds as much wisdom as a distich by Herakleitus""). The only other voice in the book belongs to the old woman who runs the store where Gasper gets his supplies, and her attempts to justify his preference for isolation provide little justification for sympathy. McCord, the Director of the Creative Writing Program at Bowling Green University in Ohio, has written poetry, short fiction and essays for a variety of university and small presses, and he is not without a flair for insular, tightly wound prose, but this tale is so emotionally barren, its hero so unlovable, that his audience may find themselves struggling to find a reason to accompany Gasper on his decidedly odd journey. (Aug.)