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SKY FULL OF SAND

Signed cloth copies of the first printing are still available (as of Feb. 1, 2004), but the second printing will soon be ordered up and also sold out, mainly to libraries, of course!

Publisher's Weekly, starred review, Oct. 6, 2003:

"Like a cold lake, this novel by the author of such books as Cinder and Year of the Zinc Penny [probably Rick's best book, to be reprinted this coming fall in trade paperback by Seven Stories Press of New York—Dennis McMillan comment] is best entered by a plunge. Bleak, brutal, demented and cruel, the El Paso world inhabited by Uriah Walkinghorse shocks the system, sets nerve-ends tingling, numbs, then drags you into its thrall. Uri is suspended somewhere between a "normal" existence and a descent into the bizarre and desperate world that surrounds him. Strained but strong ties still bind him to his odd assortment of adopted siblings—black and white and Korean—who include a school principal, an addict, a delivery driver, and a corporate lawyer. At 42, he has lost his wife, abandoned his quest for a master's, and manages derelict apartments of derelicts in exchange for rent. His one accomplishment was a body-building title, Mr. West Side, and he still maintains a diet and exercise program. DeMarinis' exceptionally sharp wit slashes through the prose as Uri undertakes an odyssey through a world of kinky sex, drugs, high finance and the most vicious, most wasted dregs of humanity on either side of the border. The argument between a huffer and a doper over which addiction is better is brilliantly macabre. Alternately trapped and fueled by futile dreams of a better life, Uri stumbles, perseveres and survives. DeMarinis somehow manages to invest even the most degenerate of characters with recognizable humanity in spite of his savage and bitter satire."

Booklist, Nov. 15, boxed review by the Publisher, Bill Ott

"Cult favorite DeMarinis outdoes himself here with a loopy southwestern noir about an El Paso bodybuilder turned slum-apartment manager who takes a part-time gig as a faux enforcer for a dominatrix. Odd enough? It only gets odder. When the dominatrix's client, who happens to be a real estate tycoon and drug-money launderer, expires in the shower from a post-party heart attack, our hero finds himself unwillingly drawn into a cover-up and willingly involved in a tempestuous affair with the victim's wife. Like spiderwebs on a broken pane of glass, the plot quickly splinters off in multiple directions, each in its own right a small masterpiece of absurdity, black humor, Peckinpahish violence, and yes, just a touch of genuine tenderness lurking around the edges of the mayhem. But, let's face it, if you love DeMarinis you love him for the wacko bits, and the best bit here is the story of the hero's favorite bar. It's a dive called the DMZ, "a dark, unapologetic seedy place" whose name stands for Dangling Modifier Zoo and whose walls are decorated with examples of the genre. Sample: "When dipped in butter, you can taste the lobster's delicious flavor." There's also an off-the-wall introduction by fellow wacko James Crumley that concludes, "With love and butt floss." That kind of endorsement may not launch DeMarinis into the mainstream, but it hits just the right note for a novel appealing to a select crowd with very special tastes."

New York Times Book Review Supplement Dec. 28, 2003, by Marilyn Stasio

"Once in a while someone comes along and pumps some originality into the generic crime novel. Rick DeMarinis, who seems to have warmed his toes by the fires of James Crumley's gonzo genius, is one of that lonesome crowd of writers who love the language but aren't afraid to rough it up to save its life. There's a great character in Sky Full of Sand who runs a bar in El Paso called the DMZ—for Dangling Modifier Zoo. "Without grammar cognition is not possible," he rants. "They keep dismantling the language, we'll be back in caves, pronto." If the DMZ is a lost cause, so is the naive belief of the narrator, a bodybuilder named Uriah Walkinghorse, that a strong and healthy body can protect him in a world gone mad. Uri, who manages a broken-down motel for beaten-down losers, wises up when a moonlighting job for a dominatrix results in the death of a savings-and-loan banker who is building his evil empire by laundering money for Mexican drug traficantes. Caught up in their villainy, Uri puts up a good fight against the bandits, but the bankers and the values they represent are forces that may be beyond the reach of old-fashioned heroes. Still, if civilization is headed for the caves, it's nice to know that DeMarinis will be there, scribbling on the walls."

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