Charles Dodd White

Interview with Charles Dodd White

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–by Denton Loving

Denton Loving:  Congratulations on your new novel, A Shelter of Others.  You’ve previously published the novel, Lambs of Men, and the story collection, Sinners of Sanction County.  Do you have a preference between the short form and the long form?

Charles Dodd White: I believe I’m best suited to compression, but I like what can be done with a longer work, especially something in the amorphous novella/short novel range. I like the idea of extensive brevity, especially the kind of control typically applied to a more developed story.

DL:  I think of you as a fairly prolific writer.  How long did it take to write this novel? Continue reading →

[REVIEW] A Shelter of Others, by Charles Dodd White

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shelter

Fiddleblack Press

216 pages, $14.00

 

Review by Denton Loving

 

Charles Dodd White returns to the fictional landscape of Sanction County in his new novel, A Shelter of Others.  Like his previous publications (the novel Lambs of Men and the story collection Sinners of Sanction County), White masterfully depicts the dark, inner lives of broken characters.

A Shelter of Others centers on Mason Laws, just released from two years in prison for trafficking pills; Mason’s father, Sam, an aging, former college professor; and Mason’s wife, Lavada, who has cared for Sam during Mason’s incarceration.  Mason is only begrudgingly grateful for Lavada’s care of his father.  More so, he’s hurt and angry that she never visited him even once during his time in prison.  When he’s released, he doesn’t let Lavada know.  Instead, he ekes out a thin life on an abandoned timber camp until he finds a job at a run-down, one-room store near the college where Sam used to teach.  Continue reading →