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Ring of Fire and Other Stories
Reviewed by Shana Loshbaugh, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, 10/31/2004
Many readers overlook short fiction to their loss. Contemporary short-story markets are so competitive that writers have to get darn good to see their names in print.
Three recent Alaskan story collections show real promise even though their authors are not well known.
Tanyo Ravicz lived in Fairbanks and now divides his time between Kodiak and California. "Ring of Fire and Other Stories," his first book, remains squarely Alaskan in setting and inspiration. His writing has attracted praise from the likes of Thomas Keneally, author of "Schindler's List."
Ravicz's characters and perhaps the author himself are like the protagonist of the story "American Eagle," killing time fishing at a Kodiak beach:
"Somewhere along the way, Alaska became the place where Damon Briely was already buried. There was too much of himself he had lost here, too much of himself he had won."
Ravicz writes of restless wanderers upon the land, the complexities between the sexes and the outcomes of unorthodox decisions.
In a few places, his sentences spin out of control, but for the most part his words do exactly what he intends. His prose can be lyrical, staccato or salty. It excels at suggesting conflicts swirling just below the surface, such as near the beginning of "Goodbye, Anchortown," when the first-person narrator tells us:
"On the night I didn't go home to Julie, I slept off some drinks on a friend's floor. The next morning I woke just inches from the cat's litter box. It was a haunting view."
The title piece is more a novella than a short story, and it is a tour de force. With its combination of subtle emotions and raw action, it could make a good movie.
Hunting guide and lodge owner Hank Waters lands his career's biggest gig. He hosts Prince Tariq, scion of a fictional Arabian Gulf oil sheikdom, for a trophy bear hunt. For security, the guests wire the isolated place with high-tech equipment, bring in an entourage of aides and guards and insist Waters cut his staff to three. Waters and Tariq are both accustomed to doing things their own way. But weather limits the group's options. Too many bored men with too many guns poison the mood. The tension ratchets higher and higher, until the author delivers a series of explosive surprises.
Reviewed by Phil Wagner, The Iconoclast
Alaska is big and wild enough for anyone's dreams---or nightmares. Mr. Ravicz has written a worthy addition to that literary genre in which men and women face their personal demons (and the challenges of relationships) against a breathtaking and unforgiving landscape. As the philosophical quip goes: wherever you go, there you are. And so while these characters are seekers of one sort or another, in the end, the issues we all face are the same everywhere. In Alaska, they're just a little bit more out in the open, raw and exposed by the exigencies of survival. A romance might last longer in the lower 48, where reality may be less likely to rip open a nerve.
People go to Alaska for money, adventure; to get away or run away; to find peace or continue war; to save the world or drown oneself. Is it really that much different from the Jack London days? Even the natives aren't immune to the calls of the wild. While these stories aren't typical adventure tales, they nonetheless manage to keep the reader turning the pages in anticipation.
In seven stories, Mr. Ravicz is at his best when he plumbs the ever-roiling waters between men and women. There's constant contradiction among what we want, what we think we need, and what we do need. And frequently, equally, in describing the thoughts of parting lovers or a stormy salt-water passage, he can exhibit a lyricism that goes beyond storytelling to literature.