By Keith Lee Morris
Buy on Amazon
Published October 2008 (Paperback) Tin House Books
More Info: Keith Lee Morris
I’ve been to Idaho a few times. I just get into trouble. Not going back. Probably not. It’s just that kind of place where there isn’t enough to do. But Keith Lee Morris manages to make a terrific book about a guy just playing darts in a bar. The Dart League King happens all in one night. There’s sex and murder, old friends and disloyal fathers, and a lot more poured into five different characters, all third person, but it feels like I’m inside everyone’s head.
What’s interesting to me is that I likely would not have picked up this book casually. I read it because I was scheduled to interview Keith today on camera for Tin House Publishing and the Writer’s Dojo. What’s interesting to me is that I liked the book. A lot. From the first dart main character Russell Harmon threw. I loved the tension in each seemingly-simple small town character, and how Keith teased out what seduced each character. The thing of beauty that attracted them. Unpredictable, never obvious.
As we talked, Keith and I both fell into the conversation, forgetting about the camera, forgetting to pause a few seconds between question and answer. So the cameraman had to roll on some B shots — which, actually, I was hoping he’d do — always makes for a better piece. Keith and I talked non-stop about his book and about writing for forty-minutes — the final video is only supposed to be about twelve.
Keith was a late-comer to writing, he says. He was inspired by Faulkner and others, and wanting — in some subtle way — to contribute to literature. I asked where he sees his books on the shelves, and he teases, saying around M, and when I probe, he doesn’t want to reveal big hopes and dreams, or that he’d like enough money for cars and swimming pools. That’s not him. He wants to touch his readers, make a small difference in their lives.
Yes, Keith, that’s what I was shooting for.
Bulls eye.
