title: The Motel Life: A Novel
author:  Willy Vlautin 
description: In a gritty debut, Vlautin explores a few weeks in the broken lives of two working-class brothers, Frank and Jerry Lee Flannigan, who abruptly ditch their Reno motel after Jerry Lee drunkenly kills a boy on a bicycle in a hit-and-run. The two are case studies in hard luck: their mother died when they were 14 and 16, respectively; their father is an ex-con deadbeat; neither finished high school. Frank has had just one girlfriend, motel neighbor Annie, whose mother is an abusive prostitute. An innocent simpleton, Jerry Lee is left feeling suicidal after the accident, despite his younger brother's efforts (&agrave; la <I>Of Mice and Men's </I>Lenny and George) to console him: "It was real quiet, the way he cried," says Frank, "like he was whimpering." On returning to Reno, an eventual reckoning awaits them. Vlautin's coiled, poetically matter-of-fact prose calls to mind S.E. Hinton&mdash;a writer well-acquainted with male misfit protagonists seeking redemption, no matter how destructive. Despite the bleak story and its inevitably tragic ending, Vlautin, who plays in the alt-country band Richmond Fontaine, transmits a quiet sense of resilience and hopefulness. <I>(May)</I> <BR>Copyright &copy; Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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  KZINE MAGAZINE
  
  
  
  
  
  Issue 8
  
  
  
  
  
  edited by Graeme Hurry
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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  Kzine Issue 8 © January 2014 by Kimota Publishing
  
  
  
  
  
  cover © Dave Windett, 2013
  
  
  
  
  
  Editorial © Graeme Hurry, 2014
  
  
  
  
  
  Pickman’s Motel © C.I. Kemp, 2014
  
  
  
  
  
  Small Victories © Dan Grace, 2014
  
  
  
  
  
  Spell Check © M.C. Tuggle, 2014
  
  
  
  
  
  Heat © Steve Jordan, 2014
  
  
  
  
  
  T-Vision © Richard Zwicker, 2014
  
  
  
  
  
  The Abolitionist © Mjke Wood, 2014
  
  
  
  
  
  The Angel In The Hourglass © Donald Sterling, 2014
  
  
  
  
  
  The Other Side of the Door © Rhooda Parrish, 2014
  
  
  
  
  
  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form
  by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
  without prior written permission of the copyright holder. For editorial
  content this is Graeme Hurry, for stories it is the individual author, for
  artwork it is the artist.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  CONTENTS
  
  
  
  
  
  [PICKMAN’S MOTEL](index_s