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Bell Hammers
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🏆 Finalist for Glimmer Train's Fiction Open. PRANKS. OIL. PROTEST. JOKES BETWEEN NEWLYWEDS. AND ONE HILARIOUS SIEGE OF A MAJOR CORPORATION. Remmy grows up with Beth in Bellhammer, Illinois as oil and coal companies rob the land of everything that made it paradise. Under his Grandad, he learns how to properly prank his neighbors, friends, and foes. Beth tries to fix Remmy by taking him to church. Under his Daddy, Remmy starts the Bell Hammer Construction Company, which depends on contracts from Texarco Oil. And Beth argues with him about how to build a better business. Together, Remmy and Beth start to build a great neighborhood of "merry men" carpenters: a paradise of s’mores, porch furniture, newborn babies, and summer trips to Branson where their boys pop the tops off of the neighborhood’s two hundred soda bottles. Their witty banter builds a kind of castle among a growing nostalgia. Then one of Jim Johnstone’s faulty Texarco oil derricks falls down on their house and poisons their neighborhood's well. "We need the world's greatest prank. One grand glorious jest that'll bloody the nose of that tyrant. Besides, pranks and jokes don't got no consequences, right?"
Poisoned wells escalate to torched dog houses. Torched dog houses escalate to stolen carpentry tools and cancelled contracts. Cancelled contracts escalate to eminent domain. Sick of the attacks from Texaco Oil on his neighborhood, Remmy assembles his merry men.
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FTC Disclosure: I received a free review copy of this book from the author and/or publisher and wrote this review voluntarily. The opinions expressed are entirely my own and is in no way affiliated with the author or publisher. |
The following review was jointly written by Alan and I, since we both felt the same about this book in it’s entirety.
Let me start off by saying this is not your typical story. It is more of a telling of a person’s life, similar to a diary or a journal, but told from a third person view instead. It gave the book more of a personal feel to it – like a casual conversation with an old friend.
At first, the style of grammar and syntax used did slow me down a bit, and I expect it to do the same to other readers. I urge you to look passed it though and see the thought provoking messages hidden within the pages. The book basically hints at this as well (in it’s own way) when God speaks to Remmy and says, “Look deeper…”
On the note of looking deeper, I strongly encourage you to read the Author Notes at the end. Lancelot explains his choice of grammar throughout the story which heightened my fascination even more, particularly with the accurate definitions of “because” and “cause’ and how they are represented in the book. Bell Hammers is a “cause” story, not a “because” one, and maybe with that understanding more readers will be able to see what this book is really trying to say.
For those who shy away from references of religion, be aware that there is a lot of references of the Bible and “Lord”, as well as various conversations with God throughout the book. I personally found this not only refreshing but also authentic to the time and location in which the story is told. The ending was one of the more important parts to the story that really tied it all together for me, and I’m glad the author decided to include it.
Overall, I’m grateful for the opportunity to have read this book.
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About Lancelot Schaubert
Two excerpts of Lancelot Schaubert’s debut novel BELL HAMMERS have sold to The New Haven Review (Yale’s Institute Library) and The Misty Review, while a third excerpt was selected as a finalist for the last Glimmer Train Fiction Open in history.
He has sold poetry, fiction, and essays to TOR (MacMillan), The Anglican Theological Review, McSweeney’s, Poker Pro’s World Series Edition, The Poet’s Market, Writer’s Digest, Space and Time, and many similar markets. Spark + Echo chose him for their 2019 artist in residency, commissioning him to write four short stories in addition to seven they’d already purchased. He has published work in anthologies like Author in Progress, Harry Potter for Nerds, and Of Gods and Globes — the last of which he edits, and has featured stories by Juliet Marillier (nominated for an Aurealis award), Howard Andrew Jones, Kaaron Warren, Anne Greenwood Brown, Dr. Anthony Cirilla, LJ Cohen, FC Shultz, and Emily Munro.
