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Willowgate Press
Title: Nelson's Run
Author: Peter Bacho, Tacoma, Washington
Publisher: Willowgate Press, P.O. Box 6529, Holliston, MA 01746
Contact: Robert B. Tolins, Editor/Publisher; (508) 429-8774
Publication Date: February 1, 2002
Distributor: Ingram, Baker and Taylor
Size: 8.5" by 5.5", 145 pages
Price: $12.95
Category: Fiction

In Peter Bacho's hard-edged satire, Nelson, the dissolute son of wealthy American parents, becomes engulfed in his own personal heart of darkness on the war-torn Philippine Island of Samar. Nelson is obsessed with avoiding work, long-term relationships, parenthood and all other forms of responsibility. Sex, Nelson's other major obsession, is what brings him to the Philippines, having heard the archipelago's bawdy lore from a former mistress he had shared with his father. With dark humor and insight, Bacho explores the clash of American and Filipino culture, as Nelson soon finds himself pulled between Anita and Marta, two tango-dancing matriarchs, and embroiled in his own private apocalypse. The resolution of this increasingly violent ménage-a-trois takes place within the context of a talent contest, a civil war, a coronation and an "exploding" presidential candidate.

Praise for Nelson's Run:

From sexual picaresque to razor-edged satirical fable, Peter Bacho takes us on a wild odyssey in Nelson's Run. Well-endowed white-guy tourist Nelson from Baltimore just has no idea how well his Philippines 'paradise' has learned the deadly lessons of American imperialism. But after a series of transformations in the domain of the mysterious 'Dona' of Samar, first into sex slave, ultimately - and most weirdly - into bitch-goddess, maybe he'll get a clue? This ferocious comedy that cuts all ways belongs in the lineage of Evelyn Waugh at his best.
- Judith Grossman, author of How Aliens Think.

Peter Bacho is an editorial writer at The News Tribune in Tacoma, WA. His first novel, Cebu, won a 1992 American Book Award. His collection of short stories, Dark Blue Suit, won a Washington Governor's Writers Award (1998) and The Murray Morgan Prize (1998). Henry Holt published his nonfiction work, Boxing in Black and White, in 1999. He can be reached for interviews at Peter.Bacho@mail.tribnet.com

Of Cebu, Kirkus Reviews wrote: Bacho writes with a light touch...His characters and situations reflect a maturity rarely found in first novels, and his ending, in its refusal to provide a simple resolution, succeeds in adding a new depth to an already-intricate construction. A sensitive--and convincing--debut.

Of Dark Blue Suit and Other Stories, the New York Times Book Review wrote: In rough-hewn and wistful style, Bacho's stories bring to life the hardscrabble years of the first wave of migrant laborers--and capture as well the ambivalence of their American-born children, who come of age during the 1960's.

Of Boxing in Black and White, Booklist wrote: his highly personal look at the intersection between boxing and race relations is part reflection, part standard history, and part sociology...It's Bacho's sports writing that really holds the book together. His ability to differentiate the strategies and styles of a range of athletes and make them understandable is what will keep readers engaged. Bacho's own story about the impact nonwhite boxers such as Santos and Sugar Ray Robinson had on the members of his Filipino American family, who were not always made welcome in the U.S., will feel familiar to many readers.

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