At 87, James Lee Burke is an unstoppable force in fiction
James Lee Burke published his first novel, “Half of Paradise,” in 1965. Early in his career he accumulated rejections aplenty. Publishers actually allowed some early works to go out of print. He never gave up and today, at age 87, Burke is as prolific as he has ever been.
Last summer, he published his novel “Flags on the Bayou.” That book is set in Louisiana during the Civil War and is a sequel in a way to his magnificent novel “White Doves at Morning” (2002). The 24th installment in his landmark Dave Robicheaux series will come out in June. That book, “Clete,” is about Dave’s feisty sidekick and brother-in-arms, Clete Purcell.
As if that is not enough, Burke just published his third story collection, “Harbor Lights.” These captivating stories reveal a writer so masterful, so immersed in his craft, this reviewer was awestruck. The book closes with two lengthy tales. In “A Distant War,” Burke mischievously spins science fiction. The collection peaks with the dazzling “Strange Cargo,” almost novella length.
Burke’s readers expect him to mine certain thematic lodes and he frequently does: devastation of the environment, our cruelty to animals and to each other, political demagogues, corrupt law enforcement officers, endemic racism, and notably, evildoers who seem to have oozed out of some separate gene pool.
His prose is distinctive, so recognizable. His lyrical descriptions of nature are without peer. Here’s an example: “We went into a shack that had no door and no glass in the windows, among a grove of cottonwoods, and lay down on some gunnysacks and listened to the trout night feed in a long riffle that came right down the center of the stream, as shiny as a ribbon of oil under the moon.”
The title story is set in Louisiana during WWII. According to Burke, it is little known that German U-boats were sinking oil freighters in the Gulf of Mexico. An oil worker loosely based upon Burke’s own father reports this sinister activity and is stunned to learn nobody will talk about it — our government didn’t want to unleash panic.
When Burke invents characters, he doesn’t play around: “Lizard was a driller. His skin looked like leather stretched on a skeleton. At age 20 he already had chain gang scars on his ankles and whip marks from the Black Betty on his back. He whistled and sang while he worked, and bragged on his conquests in five-dollar brothels. I was jealous of his peace of mind.”
In “A Distant War” we don’t anticipate science fiction. I talked to the author last week, and that is how he described it. A woman seems to be under the delusion she is the widow of Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America. Varina Davis lives in an Airstream trailer. It is tasty dystopian chowder.
“Flags on the Bayou,” was just nominated for another Edgar Award. I hope he wins. It could not happen to a more deserving fellow.