Stone Junction

  The Diamond, in an odd way, was all I had left of us, yet I didn’t believe it was real. So this evening at sunset I carried the Diamond out to the center of a bridge over the Mississippi River. I married Daniel. I honor vows, keep my promises.

  I slipped the Diamond from the sack and looked into it as deeply as I could. I wanted a sign, a vision in the crystal ball, something to keep. I saw nothing, felt nothing.

  I opened my hands and let it go. I watched it fall, utterly certain it would hit the water and sink without a ripple, like a breath entering the air.

  The Diamond hit the river like a comet, half the Mississippi erupting in a geyser, a magnificent fountain turned golden by the setting sun.

  I don’t know a fucking thing. That must mean I’m finally sane. And that’s an excellent place to start going crazy again.

  Also available from Canongate

  NOT FADE AWAY

  By Jim Dodge

  Introduced by KEVIN SAMPSON

  Floorboard George Gastin is part of an insurance scam to wreck a pure white, mint condition ’59 Cadillac originally intended as a present to The Big Bopper from an ageing admirer. But in the name of love, Floorboard George has other ideas, and disappears with the car, gangsters and cops in hot pursuit.

  On the road, the crazy characters and demented hitch-hikers he meets provide high-octane entertainment as Floorboard George covers many miles – and states of mind – in his quest to find the true spirit of rock ‘n’ roll.

  “The best road novel never to be adapted for the big screen … Vanishing Point with a point, Easy Rider with no hippies and a sense of historical depth.” Guardian

  “… a potent mix of bawdy folk-tale, philosophy and principled techno-awareness. Strong threads of humanism work within a fabric of vibrant characters, hillbilly landscapes and cathartic wit.” Dazed and Confused

  “[Jim Dodge is] in an affectionately satirical tradition that stretches back to Twain … he also happens to write snappier dialogue than anyone this side of Elmore Leonard.” Scotland on Sunday

  Acknowledgements

  My gratitude to the following people for their help, encouragement, and forbearance:

  Victoria Stockley (first, foremost, and more), Patricia Sinclair, Leonard Charles, Lynn Millman, Richard Cortez Day, Jeremiah Gorsline, Gary Snyder, Freeman House, Jacoba, Jack Hitt, Melanie Jackson, Robert Funt, Jack Gilbert, T. J. Mullen, Jenny Berry, Morris Graves, Gary Fisketjon, and Anne Rumsey (tune and tone).

  About the Author Stone Junction

  JIM DODGE is the author of three books of fiction: Fup, Not Fade Away and Stone Junction. Rain on the River, his collection of poetry, is also published by Canongate. He lives on an isolated ranch in California’s Western Sonoma County.

  Copyright

  First published in 1990 in the USA by The Atlantic Monthly Press

  First published in Great Britain in 1997 by Rebel Inc.,

  an imprint of Canongate Books Ltd,

  14 High Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1TE

  This digital edition first published in 2011 by Canongate Books

  Copyright © Jim Dodge, 1990

  Introduction copyright © Thomas Pynchon, 1997

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review

  British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

  A catalogue record for this book is available on request from the British Library

  ISBN 978 1 84767 724 2

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