Ring of Fire...
Set in the aftermath of the Persian Gulf War, far from the centers of civilization, this short novel charts the destructive collision of two worlds, the world of global power, finance and high technology, and the world of the American past, independent, idealistic, and itself compromised by its conquest of the land.
Fifty-two-year-old Hank Waters, former Navy pilot, recluse, and master hunting guide, runs a wilderness lodge on the Alaska Peninsula. The opportunity of his career comes when Prince Tariq, the crown prince of the Islamic monarchy of Rahman, arrives in Alaska to hunt brown bear. Waters has always been ambivalent about guiding his wealthy clients to hunt the brown bears that he loves. His fears are not groundless. Exploiting their freedom, Prince Tariq's men violate one law after another in a rising spiral of transgression.
Can Hank Waters and his staff -- Kim the mysterious young Aleut woman whom he loves, Frenchy the irascible cook, Betty the victim of squalor and hopelessness -- maintain order among so many men accustomed to having their way in the world? How far should Waters go in accommodating his guests in exchange for the money he'll earn?
In the wake of the tragedy that unfolds, the climactic bear hunt of Hank Waters and Prince Tariq is charged with moral excitement and despair.
Told with lyric intensity and furious pacing, in a style that echoes the volcanic rhythms of the land and the surging rhythms of the sea, Ring of Fire is a thrilling human parable of power and corruption and the fugitive virtues of simplicity and love.
...The Stories
In the six stories of contemporary Alaska which round out this collection, romance and danger are always as close as the wilderness. Each story offers a disturbing exploration of the limits of identity and freedom:
A hard-bitten charter-boat captain rediscovers love in the arms of a married woman; a young man finds affirmation and disillusion while fighting fires in the Alaskan wilderness; a down-on-his-luck laborer learns that having nothing to lose can be the best place to begin; on a raft trip with her boyfriend a pregnant young woman is forced to revise her naive expectations of the world; a pot smoker 'fesses up during a moment of high mysticism; a rigidly virtuous Native man is caught in a romantic triangle that tragically leads to the death of a grizzly bear.
Here are men and women who lose and find themselves in settings breathtakingly raw and beautiful. The effect is unforgettable.
- "His prose can be lyrical, staccato or salty. It excels at suggesting conflicts swirling just below the surface...a tour de force."
- -- Shana Loshbaugh, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
- "[A] worthy addition to that literary genre in which men and women face their personal demons...against a breathtaking and unforgiving landscape. Mr. Ravicz is at his best when he plumbs the ever-roiling waters between men and women...he can exhibit a lyricism that goes beyond storytelling to literature."
- -- Phil Wagner, The Iconoclast
- "[B]eautiful writing. Has the compact drama of Styron's first novel. An important first book."
- -- Thomas Keneally, author of Schindler's List