Overview

Sometimes sinister and sometimes playful, Mason Parker's essays and vignettes attempt the nearly impossible task of capturing the true magnitude of our ecological situation. Until the Red Swallows It All tells stories of people formed by landscape and examines Oklahoma after the big fracking boom, a microcosm of something even more expansive than the open plains or seemingly endless hills. This collection is like a John Prine album or a hillbilly Walden. By veering in and out of the political, but mostly by peering through the lens of the personal, Parker's work reconciles our past with a future beyond our control, or even understanding.

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9781951226145

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Reviews

"""The LA streets had their Bukowski, and the southern border deserts had their Bowden, and now the red dirt plains and blackjack hills of Oklahoma have their Parker. The fierce, urgent language in Until The Red Swallows It All never lets us forget what has been lost, or what might have been, even as it tells a survivor's tale. Post-lament, pre-celebration, real-time warning: this book might break your mind and open your heart."" -Phil Condon, author of River Street ""Mason Parker has a heart. It floods with the rain, cracks with the wildfires, and glows with the bioluminescence of a midsummer firefly. If you've ever given a sh*t about anything with the wholeness of your very being, this book is for you. If you haven't, hopefully this book will help."" -Shy Watson, author of Horror Vacui ""Mason Parker's is a strong fresh voice grown right out of Oklahoma and into Montana, via many other landscapes along the way. How he weds the erotics of geography with his own struggling sensuality recalls the candor of T. T. Williams, but is entirely his own. A fine describer of place, event, and the lives of his own and other species, Parker dives deep into happenstance and personal history and comes up with a plum of a book. Twining boyhood ritual with a young man's regrets and joys, he arrives at a sharp sense of the Now - a time when fierce objection to our environmental catastrophe requires equally fierce celebration of what remains, in spite of us. Parker manages both, with grace."" -Robert Michael Pyle, author of The Thunder Tree ""Mason Parker has given us the rarest of gifts: a book that is true, a straight shot distilled from the grit and tears of the broken heart land. Summon the unflinching courage to match his. Read this to know what ails us."" -Richard Manning, author of If It Sounds Good, It Is Good: Seeking Subversion, Transcendence, and Solace in America's Music ""Until the Red Swallows It All surprised me. There is no sentimentalism in Parker's writing, just descriptions of a world that so many of us know and hope to never forget. The wheel keeps turning, with the same dilemmas and celebrations. Parker's patience for the craft is astounding."" -Noah Cicero, author of Give It to the Grand Canyon ""Mason Parker writes with voice, vigor, and a keen attention to the natural world and the creatures, including us humans, that haunt it. These essays are funny, poignant and dark, all with a deeply rooted sense of place. A good ride."" -Bart Schaneman, author of"

The LA streets had their Bukowski, and the southern border deserts had their Bowden, and now the red dirt plains and blackjack hills of Oklahoma have their Parker. The fierce, urgent language in Until The Red Swallows It All never lets us forget what has been lost, or what might have been, even as it tells a survivor's tale. Post-lament, pre-celebration, real-time warning: this book might break your mind and open your heart. -Phil Condon, author of River Street Mason Parker has a heart. It floods with the rain, cracks with the wildfires, and glows with the bioluminescence of a midsummer firefly. If you've ever given a sh*t about anything with the wholeness of your very being, this book is for you. If you haven't, hopefully this book will help. -Shy Watson, author of Horror Vacui Mason Parker's is a strong fresh voice grown right out of Oklahoma and into Montana, via many other landscapes along the way. How he weds the erotics of geography with his own struggling sensuality recalls the candor of T. T. Williams, but is entirely his own. A fine describer of place, event, and the lives of his own and other species, Parker dives deep into happenstance and personal history and comes up with a plum of a book. Twining boyhood ritual with a young man's regrets and joys, he arrives at a sharp sense of the Now - a time when fierce objection to our environmental catastrophe requires equally fierce celebration of what remains, in spite of us. Parker manages both, with grace. -Robert Michael Pyle, author of The Thunder Tree Mason Parker has given us the rarest of gifts: a book that is true, a straight shot distilled from the grit and tears of the broken heart land. Summon the unflinching courage to match his. Read this to know what ails us. -Richard Manning, author of If It Sounds Good, It Is Good: Seeking Subversion, Transcendence, and Solace in America's Music Until the Red Swallows It All surprised me. There is no sentimentalism in Parker's writing, just descriptions of a world that so many of us know and hope to never forget. The wheel keeps turning, with the same dilemmas and celebrations. Parker's patience for the craft is astounding. -Noah Cicero, author of Give It to the Grand Canyon Mason Parker writes with voice, vigor, and a keen attention to the natural world and the creatures, including us humans, that haunt it. These essays are funny, poignant and dark, all with a deeply rooted sense of place. A good ride. -Bart Schaneman, author of

Author Information

Mason Parker is an Okie-born, Montana-based writer. He holds an MS in Environmental Studies from the University of Montana. His work has been featured in X-R-A-Y, Hobart, the International Journal of Wilderness, and BULL Men's Fiction. In his free time he enjoys exploring the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness with his partner and two dogs.

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