Thomas Maltman's essays, poetry, and fiction have been published in many literary journals. He has an MFA from Minnesota State University, Mankato and he lives in the Twin Cities. His first novel, The Night Birds, won several national awards, including an Alex Award, a Spur Award, and the Friends of American Writers Literary Award. In 2009 the American Library Association chose The Night Birds as an "Outstanding Book for the College Bound." His most recent novel, Little Wolves, is also published by Soho.
PRAISE FOR THE NIGHT BIRDS
*Alex Award Winner*
"We all set our sights on the Great American Novel. . . . [Thomas
Maltman] comes impressively close to laying his hands on the
grail."
—Boston Globe, Madison Smartt Bell
"Thomas Maltman's debut novel, The Night Birds, soars and
sings like a feathered angel."
—Chicago Sun-Times
“Maltman’s prose and pacing flow from an expert hand. . . . His
gaze is unflinching and balanced. . . . And while there is much
loss in the novel, in the end there is salvation.”
—Denver Post, Robin Vidimos
“Maltman’s writing is most lucid when he explores the German
folklore, Dakota mysticism, and pioneer spirituality that shape his
characters’ understanding of their own harsh world.”
—Entertainment Weekly
“[Maltman] excels at giving even his most harrowing scenes an
understated realism and at painting characters who are richly,
sometimes disturbingly human. The novel sustains its tension right
to the moment it ends.”
—Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“[A] flawless sense of history marked by its most revealing—and
harrowing—details.”
—Booklist
PRAISE FOR LITTLE WOLVES
"Here’s one I’ll recommend—Tom Maltman’s written an ambitious
mythic thriller that hums with energy and portent. Set under
brooding prairie skies, Little Wolves has modern
psychoses and generational wickedness, ravening devils and uneasy
saints. It shifts and dodges like wind, and it rings with
conviction and confidence. What more can a reader ask?"
—Leif Enger, author of Peace Like a River and So
Brave, Young, and Handsome
"A masterwork of fiction. Not just a good book that’s interesting
on multiple levels, but a great book that will stand the test of
time...I was completely spellbound. Add to this the mysteries
surrounding the town and characters, and I felt, often, as though I
were reading some contemporary version of Dostoyevsky."
—Peter Geye, author of Safe From The Sea
"A complicated portrait of a prairie town, a meditation on
violence, a fantasia of myth and folklore, and a knockout murder
mystery, Little Wolves is haunting, at times terrifying,
a gothic cousin to Kent Haruf's Plainsong. I loved this book."
—Benjamin Percy, author of Red Moon, The
Wilding and Refresh, Refresh
"Little Wolves weaves the lives of a father, a son, a pastor’s
wife, and a community in this compelling mystery of murder and
secrets. His brilliant use of historical and mythical elements are
combined with everyday life in ways that are hair-raising and true.
Maltman has a gift for framing unforgettable characters. Everything
about this book asks us to examine life more closely."
—Elizabeth Cox, Author of The Slow Moon
"This novel churns with the tension of a building prairie
thunderstorm. Tom Maltman knows that dark truths can be hidden
under open skies, and he knows the secrets of the bloodstained ax
in the barn."
—John Reimringer, author of Vestments
"The poetry of this prose and the suspense of the plot, along with
the intensity of characterization will have many readers comparing
Thomas Maltman to Cormac McCarthy—that greatest of compliments—for
very good reason. This novel is a work of high art by the real
thing."
—Laura Kasischke, author of Space, in
Chains and The Life Before Her Eyes
"Absolutely fantastic. Unnerving, gorgeously written.... The
writing is haunting.”
—Caroline Leavitt, author of Pictures of You
“Took my breath away.... as rich in myth and metaphors as Cormac
McCarthy's “The Road.’”
—Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
“Part allegory, part mystery and pure poetry, layered with Norse
mythology and Anglo Saxon narratives, Maltman's second novel is
dark, redemptive and very beautiful.”
—Minneapolis Star-Tribune
“Powerful...skillfully evoked”
—Publishers Weekly
“Smart thrills.”
—Library Journal
“Maltman makes his leading characters so sensitive that you may
shudder at the same revelations that so appall them.”
—Kirkus
"Layered with literary and mythic allusions.... A satisfying and
unforgettable read."
—School Library Journal
“So good, you'll forget about icy sidewalks and a dead
battery...Magical story, magical writing.”
—Twin Cities Pioneer Press
“Little Wolves is beautifully written, both in the style of prose
and pacing of the narrative.”
—Grand Rapids Herald-Review
"In gorgeous prose, Maltman conjures both the irrational suspicion
and the heartwarming connections forged in a small town during
times of trauma."
—Booklist
“Little Wolves is reminiscent of Kent Haruf’s Plainsong, but
grittier...a great read with loads of literary merit."
—BookSquawk
“Saturated with violence, Anglo-Saxon mythology and parochial
pettiness, Maltman's novel is an unsettling work of first-rate
fiction.”
—Shelf-Awareness
Set in the 1860s and '70s, Maltman's superb debut evokes a Midwest lacerated by clashes between European and Native American, slaveowner and abolitionist, killer and healer, nature and culture. Asa Senger, a lonely 14-year-old boy, is at first wary when his father's sister, Hazel, arrives at his parents' Minnesota home after a long stay in a faraway asylum, but he comes to cherish the mysterious Hazel's warmth and company. Through her stories, Asa learns of his family's bitter past: the lore and dreams of their German forebears, their place in the bitter divide over slavery and, most complex of all, the bond between Hazel and the Dakotan warrior Wanikiya that deepens despite the violence between their peoples. Maltman excels at giving even his most harrowing scenes an understated realism and at painting characters who are richly, sometimes disturbingly, human. The novel sustains its tension right to the moment it ends with an adult Asa at peace with his own complicated heritage-a tentative redemption that, the book's events as well as our own world's disorders suggest, is the best for which the human heart can hope. (Aug.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.
PRAISE FOR THE NIGHT BIRDS
*Alex Award Winner*
"We all set our sights on the Great American Novel. . . . [Thomas
Maltman] comes impressively close to laying his hands on the
grail."
-Boston Globe, Madison Smartt Bell
"Thomas Maltman's debut novel, The Night Birds, soars and sings
like a feathered angel."
-Chicago Sun-Times
"Maltman's prose and pacing flow from an expert hand. . . . His
gaze is unflinching and balanced. . . . And while there is much
loss in the novel, in the end there is salvation."
-Denver Post, Robin Vidimos
"Maltman's writing is most lucid when he explores the German
folklore, Dakota mysticism, and pioneer spirituality that shape his
characters' understanding of their own harsh world."
-Entertainment Weekly
"[Maltman] excels at giving even his most harrowing scenes an
understated realism and at painting characters who are richly,
sometimes disturbingly human. The novel sustains its tension right
to the moment it ends."
-Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
"[A] flawless sense of history marked by its most revealing-and
harrowing-details."
-Booklist
PRAISE FOR LITTLE WOLVES
"Here's one I'll recommend-Tom Maltman's written an ambitious
mythic thriller that hums with energy and portent. Set under
brooding prairie skies, Little Wolves has modern psychoses
and generational wickedness, ravening devils and uneasy saints. It
shifts and dodges like wind, and it rings with conviction and
confidence. What more can a reader ask?"
-Leif Enger, author of Peace Like a River and So
Brave, Young, and Handsome
"A masterwork of fiction. Not just a good book that's interesting
on multiple levels, but a great book that will stand the test of
time...I was completely spellbound. Add to this the mysteries
surrounding the town and characters, and I felt, often, as though I
were reading some contemporary version of Dostoyevsky."
-Peter Geye, author of Safe From The Sea
"A complicated portrait of a prairie town, a meditation on
violence, a fantasia of myth and folklore, and a knockout murder
mystery, Little Wolves is haunting, at times terrifying, a
gothic cousin to Kent Haruf's Plainsong. I loved this book."
-Benjamin Percy, author of Red Moon, The Wilding and
Refresh, Refresh
"Little Wolves weaves the lives of a father, a son,
a pastor's wife, and a community in this compelling mystery of
murder and secrets. His brilliant use of historical and mythical
elements are combined with everyday life in ways that are
hair-raising and true. Maltman has a gift for framing unforgettable
characters. Everything about this book asks us to examine life more
closely."
-Elizabeth Cox, Author of The Slow Moon
"This novel churns with the tension of a building prairie
thunderstorm. Tom Maltman knows that dark truths can be hidden
under open skies, and he knows the secrets of the bloodstained ax
in the barn."
-John Reimringer, author of Vestments
"The poetry of this prose and the suspense of the plot,
along with the intensity of characterization will have many readers
comparing Thomas Maltman to Cormac McCarthy-that greatest of
compliments-for very good reason. This novel is a work of high art
by the real thing."
-Laura Kasischke, author of Space, in Chains and
The Life Before Her Eyes
"Absolutely fantastic. Unnerving, gorgeously written....
The writing is haunting."
-Caroline Leavitt, author of Pictures of You
"Took my breath away.... as rich in myth and metaphors as Cormac
McCarthy's "The Road.'"
-Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
"Part allegory, part mystery and pure poetry, layered with Norse
mythology and Anglo Saxon narratives, Maltman's second novel is
dark, redemptive and very beautiful."
-Minneapolis Star-Tribune
"Powerful...skillfully evoked"
-Publishers Weekly
"Smart thrills."
-Library Journal
"Maltman makes his leading characters so sensitive that you may
shudder at the same revelations that so appall them."
-Kirkus
"Layered with literary and mythic allusions.... A satisfying and
unforgettable read."
-School Library Journal
"So good, you'll forget about icy sidewalks and a dead
battery...Magical story, magical writing."
-Twin Cities Pioneer Press
"Little Wolves is beautifully written, both in the style of prose
and pacing of the narrative."
-Grand Rapids Herald-Review
"In gorgeous prose, Maltman conjures both the irrational suspicion
and the heartwarming connections forged in a small town during
times of trauma."
-Booklist
"Little Wolves is reminiscent of Kent Haruf's Plainsong,
but grittier...a great read with loads of literary merit."
-BookSquawk
"Saturated with violence, Anglo-Saxon mythology and parochial
pettiness, Maltman's novel is an unsettling work of first-rate
fiction."
-Shelf-Awareness
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