Local Lit Preview
Part 1 of a two-part feature
Art Official Media LLC
Text Oliver X
The Devils of Eden:
A Veteran’s Story of Contemporary War I want to be an Airborne Ranger… Live the life of sex and danger… Airborne Ranger… Sex and danger. -Army Infantry Cadence – Excerpted from The Devils of Eden
By Joseph Holsworth Photo Shannon Balazs
To say that talented local author Joseph Holsworth and I started off on the wrong foot would be an understatement. Witness this Facebook thread: Joseph Holsworth: Will you be doing a review for my book? Oliver Ex: Hi Joseph, we had to hold on that unfortunately Joseph Holsworth: I see. Don't bother. Reno is obviously a place with next to no interest in the literary arts. Keep concentrating on shitty local bands, its working great for the city. Oliver Ex: Shitty local bands? Wow where’d that come from? It's a matter of time management on our end Joseph. I hadn't had a moment to read the book as planned. My apologies. Often it takes a cycle of up to 90 days to actually do a proper lit review. It's not personal, but I understand u being miffed. I should have let u know that straight away. Oliver Ex: For the record, the book is on order and will arrive at Sundance Books in a week or so. Joseph Holsworth: I’m sorry, man. Just one of those frustrating weeks. Sorry for taking it out on you. Oliver Ex: Hey dude, here's my number: 775-4123767 call me if u have a moment. I wanna share something with u. Joseph Holsworth: Just have to apologize once more. I love Reno local art; it’s where I came up. I just feel like I’m not being included in that when I produced something pretty special. Thanks for understanding my frustration, and more, thanks for your interest in my book. Oliver Ex: You're very welcome. I am honored and so excited to be able to actually write about something that matters Joseph. Holsworth did in fact phone me (and has since appeared on my radio show to promote his novel), and was profoundly contrite—which really wasn’t necessary--assuring me he was not a dick. I accepted his apology and I read him my notes 72 Reno Tahoe Tonight
(perhaps because I wanted him to know the book was in good hands with me because I was the son of a badass combat veteran), since I can often express myself better through the written word. “…I cannot write about a book I haven’t read or a movie I haven’t seen. Though some ’journalists’ clearly do both…I came from a military family, living with a mother and father and an uncle in a household that served their country in wars made noble by obfuscation and lies. Rather than building character, war exposes our smallness and cluelessness. War breaks men. Go to a veteran’s hospital like Long Beach or San Francisco and see the heroes, limbless, eating through stomach tubes, almost forgotten by families who visibly wince upon seeing the decrepit remnants of their once strong loved ones. Who am I to judge? The unfriendly fire and drive-bys on the streets of the LA of my early youth cannot compare to my father’s experiences in theaters of war. I have not been embedded in a hostile foreign land; ensconced in safe zones wearing flak jackets making dispatches by maglight in darkened hotel rooms in cities with curfews on lock down.” I read this aloud to Holsworth, who listened politely, and we were cool.