New Novel by SHSU Professor Set in East Texas
 When you see Paul Ruffin anywhere on the SHSU campus or on
his walk to and from his home, one of the last adjectives that
might spring to mind to describe him is distinguished. In the
summer he wears shorts, a Texas Review Press t-shirt and cap,
and trail boots, and in the winter he substitutes jeans for
his shorts and sometimes wears a denim jacket.
But the fact
is that he is officially distinguished, having been proclaimed
a Regents Distinguished Professor of English by the Texas State
University Board of Regents last November.
Author of two novels, two collections of short stories, and five books of poetry,
with his work appearing in journals, anthologies, and textbooks all across the
country, Ruffin was recently a featured author at the Southern Festival of Books
in Memphis, where he read from and signed copies of his new novel, "Castle in
the Gloom," released in September by University Press of Mississippi.
(He was
dressed the same: jeans and trail boots, TRP t-shirt and cap: “Gotta advertise
the press, you know, but the half pint of Old Crow and black garter that sat
on my signing table were merely props to promote the book. I didn’t break
the seal until later that afternoon.”) He has also been a featured author
in the past few years at the Texas Book Festival, the Eudora Welty Symposium,
and the Tennessee Williams Symposium.
Ruffin's newest effort is unlike his first novel--which one reviewer referred
to
as
a
disturbing
erotic
thriller and of which Jamie Raab, senior editor at Warner Books, wrote, “I
read 'Pompeii Man' with horror and fascination. It is a powerful, chilling story,
which I can’t say I enjoyed, though it unnerved me in a way few novels
do.”
"Castle in the Gloom" is much more lighthearted, with a
great deal of humor in the exchanges between his two major characters,
Tommy and
Annie, an estranged couple who find themselves in a lot of trouble
while on their way
from Shreveport to Houston.
When asked about the origin of the novel, Ruffin explained that it grew out
of a short story from his first collection, "The Man Who Would Be God."
“Every
time a woman mentioned her favorite story in that collection, without fail
it was ‘The Beast Within,’ the story of a couple who get more or
less kidnapped and imprisoned in the storeroom of an old country general store
by
a crazy old woman who lives there. I never could quite figure out why that
particular story would always be the favorite of women, but the more I thought
about the
couple, the more fascinated I became with them.
"
So I went back and followed
them from Shreveport right on through until their release from ‘prison’ the
next morning, capturing the best I could the spirit of two people who have
come to hate each other’s guts, or think they do. I had a ball writing
the dialog between them as they spar verbally all the way. I just fell in love
with the
two of them, and with the crone who forces them into her ‘castle’ at
gunpoint.”
Ruffin said that the novel has been described as a literary thriller, which
means “that
it has the elements of literary fiction, but it also can be read as escape
fiction. Most readers will probably not get all the fairytale allusions going
on in there,
nor the other symbolism at work, but that’s OK too. The main thing is
that they enjoy the story.”
In Chapter Three Ruffin examines the nature of East Texas and its inhabitants
through a distillation of Tommy’s thoughts as he drives along, headed south
toward the very strange and frightful night that awaits the two of them.
“
I’ve always liked writing about couples,” he explained while going
over his many stories in which a man and woman share leading roles. “'Pompeii
Man' is about a couple who get in trouble in New Orleans when the foolish husband
lets a sexual fantasy go a little too far.
"
And I have a novel underway, called
'Keepers,' in which a man and woman find themselves back in their hometown
caring for terminally-ill mothers; they end up falling in love, but they have
one
hell of a time making it work, given the demands of those parents on their
time and
energy. There’s just no story more important than the one involving a
man and woman. It was the first story, and it’s always been with us,
and it will be the last.”
Ruffin is also working on a novel called "The Gravel Pit War," which is set
in Mississippi during the embryonic stages of the Civil Rights Movement.
“These
white boys get the idea that their sacred swimming hole is going to be swarming
with black kids on the 4th of July, so they set about preparing for the Second
Civil War. It’s largely a fun book, and I’m having a ball listening
to and watching these boys devise their strategy to save the South. That gravel
pit swimming hole is a great symbol to them, and they do not intend to let
it fall to the probable descendants of slaves who once picked cotton in the
vast
field that the gravel pit is located in.”
His next book to be published, "Here’s to Noah, Bless His Ark
and Other Musings," a collection of his newspaper columns, will be out in
the spring of
2005. He also has two other books currently being considered by university
presses, "Growing Up in Mississippi Poor and White But Not Quite Trash" and
"The Segovia
Chronicles," and he is revising his third book of stories, "Jesus in the
Mist," for publication.
Ruffin teaches creative writing and an editing and publishing course at SHSU,
where he edits The Texas Review and directs Texas Review Press.
Copies of "Castle in the Gloom" are on sale in area bookstores, including
Hastings in Huntsville and Conroe (special-order only in the Conroe store),
and the
Woodlands Barnes and Noble. It may also be purchased on numerous web sites.
- END -
Submitted to Today@Sam by Sam Houston
State University graduate student Dan Sellers
SHSU Media Contact: Frank
Krystyniak
Dec. 21, 2004
Please send comments, corrections, news tips to Today@Sam.edu
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