RAÑA spirals outward from the blood, sweat, and heat of the boxing ring where Eugenio Rafael Raña takes on any opponent in Villa Ocho. In every match, he is again a soldier in the Falklands (Malvinas) War, battling alongside his Argentinian countrymen and hell-bent on victory. Inside the ring, he envisions himself a heavyweight phenom punishing his British foes with haymakers. Outside the ring, Raña spends his days in the hinterlands of Argentina, drinking and looking for his next fight. Rewinding, pausing, fast-forwarding-he replays VHS tapes of professional boxing matches, as he does his memories of the war, searching for a win. RAÑA is a phantasmagoria of modern war, brutal defeat, and a lifelong anguish that endures.
About the Author :
Caleb True is a writer, editor, critic, musician, athlete, and podcaster. He holds an MA in history from the University of Massachusetts and an MFA in creative writing from Old Dominion University. He is the founder and managing editor of Dynamo Verlag (est. 2015), a boutique publishing house specializing in textual work demonstrating genius, eclecticism, and originality.
Review :
"An exhilarating portrait of a fighter, RAÑA bursts onto the page. A novel that is completely alive in images and that makes the reader feel alive, too."
-Amina Cain, author Indelicacy and A Horse At Night
"RAÑA is a feat of the imagination. Caleb True weaves history into his fiction with grace, soul, and dexterity. For fans of Ethan Rutherford's North Sun, and anyone else curious about the hidden corners of history."
-Amity Gaige, author of Heartwood
"Mythic, original, deeply intelligent, and even prophetic-RAÑA presents a boxer at the top of his game, at war with mortality and the forces of destiny. Caleb True is a writer to watch."
-Janet Peery, National Book Award Finalist for The River Beyond the World
"A knockout debut that announces Caleb True as a writer to watch. Like its titular fighter, RAÑA is compact, powerful, and relentless in its vision of the lasting violence of imperialism."
-Michael Alessi, author of Call a Body Home
"An epic in the space of a fist. Like Agustina Baztericca, Gabriel García Márquez, or Ernest Hemingway, True's prose brings family, community, and friendship to life as his characters reckon with oppression, classism, poverty, and lack of opportunity. The Malvinas Islands and the South Atlantic are drawn with a curious, sympathetic, and keen eye for natural and cultural history as well as an appreciation for the vastness of the ocean, the kelp forests, and the sheep-dotted islands. The incongruity of British citizens living so far from home, defending land that was once Argentina's, paints a complex historical drama without ever becoming pedantic. Like the Arctic winds that haunt True's prose, RAÑA whips as much as it whispers."
-Kristine Zeigler, author of Cover This Country Like Snow and Other Stories and Fundraiser's Companion
