Valencia, Andrew
WORK TITLE: Lord of California
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE:
CITY:
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COUNTRY: Taiwan
NATIONALITY: American
RESEARCHER NOTES:
| LC control no.: | no2018019750 |
|---|---|
| LCCN Permalink: | https://lccn.loc.gov/no2018019750 |
| HEADING: | Valencia, Andrew |
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| 005 | 20180216073011.0 |
| 008 | 180215n| azannaabn |n aaa c |
| 010 | __ |a no2018019750 |
| 035 | __ |a (OCoLC)oca11199891 |
| 040 | __ |a TnLvILS |b eng |e rda |c TnLvILS |
| 100 | 1_ |a Valencia, Andrew |
| 370 | __ |a Fresno (Calif.) |2 naf |
| 375 | __ |a male |
| 377 | __ |a eng |
| 670 | __ |a Lord of California, ©2018: |b title page (Andrew Valencia) page 4 of cover (Andrew Valencia was born in Fresno, California, and graduated from Stanford, where he was awarded a Levinthal Tutorial by the Creative Writing Program. He holds an MFA from the University of South Carolina.) |
PERSONAL
Born in Fresno, CA.
EDUCATION:Stanford University, B.A.; University of South Carolina. M.F.A.
ADDRESS
- Home - Taiwan.
CAREER
Writer and teacher. Teaches writing and literature in Taiwan.
AWARDS:Stanford University, Levinthal Tutorial by the Creative Writing Program.
WRITINGS
- Lord of California (novel), Ig Publishing 2018
Contributor of fiction to literary publications, including Silk Road Review, the Ploughshares blog, Day One, Southern Pacific Review, Fat City Review, and Crack the Spine.
SIDELIGHTS
Born in Fresno, California, Andrew Valencia has written fiction for literary venues including Silk Road Review, The Southern Pacific Review, and the Ploughshares blog. He holds an M.F.A. from University of South Carolina, and currently teaches writing and literature in Taiwan. Valencia wrote the short story “How to Be an Exile,” published in the literary journal Day One in 2015. The story focuses on a college student spending a semester abroad in Paris and the alienation he feels. He attempts to ingratiate himself with the beautiful people, yet often feels rootless and alone. The dark yet comic story is written as a numbered “how-to” list to be an exile.
In 2018, Valencia published his debut novel, Lord of California, set in a future when the United States has separated and California has become its own independent republic. In this California, land is strictly controlled and parceled out to families. Perhaps that’s why, when patriarch Elliot Temple dies at the beginning of the book, it’s soon learned that he has five different wives and families unknown to each other. They all now stand to inherit his total of one hundred acres that are spread out and disjoined. The families work together to keep the valuable land, yet thwarting their attempts is Elliot Jr., a vicious manipulator who wants to control all the land. Flashbacks reveal that Elliot Sr. was equally manipulative. Confrontations among the family members lead to violence.
In an interview online at The Qwillery, Valencia described the setting: “I didn’t really think of it as ‘alternative history’ as much as it was just the story I wanted to tell at that point in my life…I spent a lot of time reading and thinking about moments in history where a society falls apart and transforms into something else over the course of a few generations. It happens all the time and we never call it ‘dystopian’ or ‘post-apocalyptic.’” Acknowledging the intricate family relationships and complicated inheritances, a writer in Kirkus Reviews noted: “Vaguely dystopian though ultimately life-affirming, Valencia’s novel is an engaging examination of family dynamics and the importance of the legacy of land.”
Paige Van De Winkle commented in ForeWord that the dystopian novel is poetic even in its austerity and that “This dystopia does not overtly criticize current society, despite connections to it. An understated dissection of the intersections of familial ties and morality, Lord of California is poetic even in its austerity.” In Publishers Weekly, a reviewer said that while the premise is not entirely convincing, “the prospect of personal redemption at the conclusion is a fine grace note to this bracing, tense tale.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
ForeWord, December 27, 2017, Paige Van De Winkle, review of Lord of California.
Kirkus Reviews, November 15, 2017, review of Lord of California.
Publishers Weekly, October 23, 2017, review of Lord of California, p. 60.
ONLINE
Qwillery, http://qwillery.blogspot.com/ (January 1, 2018), author interview.
- Lord of California - 2018 Ig Publishing , https://smile.amazon.com/Lord-California-Andrew-Valencia/dp/1632460599/ref=sr_1_1_twi_pap_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1519518098&sr=8-1&keywords=Valencia%2C+Andrew
- Amazon - https://smile.amazon.com/Lord-California-Andrew-Valencia/dp/1632460599/ref=sr_1_1_twi_pap_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1519518098&sr=8-1&keywords=Valencia%2C+Andrew
Andrew Valencia was born in Fresno, California and holds degrees from Stanford and the University of South Carolina MFA program. He currently teaches writing and literature on the island of Taiwan. He was a 2014 finalist in the novel category for the William Faulkner/William Wisdom Writer Award. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Silk Road Review, the Ploughshares blog, Day One, The Southern Pacific Review, The Fat City Review, Crack the Spine, and other publications.
- The Qwillery - http://qwillery.blogspot.com/2018/01/interview-with-andrew-valencia-author.html
Interview with Andrew Valencia, author of Lord of California
Please welcome Andrew Valencia to The Qwillery as part of the of the 2018 Debut Author Challenge Interviews. Lord of California was published on January 25th by Ig Publishing in digital format. The audio version of the novel is out today from Blackstone Audio. Lord of California will be available in Trade Paperback on February 27, 2018.
TQ: Welcome to The Qwillery. What is the first piece you remember writing?
Andrew: While I can remember writing small sketches and stories as far back as elementary school, I can't recall the plot of any particular story from that early stage in my development. I believe they were mostly influenced by the stories and TV shows I was interested in at the time. A lot of cartoon and sci-fi stuff, written in pen on note tablets I would borrow from my parents or grandparents. More often than not, though, I expended these stories in my head before they ever found their way onto paper. Growing up in the country with a lot of open space between us and the neighbors provided the ideal space for letting my daydreams run wild.
TQ: Are you a plotter, a pantser or a hybrid?
Andrew: Hybrid. I usually have a general sense of where I'd like to take an idea by the time I sit down to begin a draft, but the process of working through the story on paper forces me to fill out the skeleton of the piece in greater detail.
TQ: What is the most challenging thing for you about writing?
Andrew: Revising sentences. Nabokov used to say his pencils outlasted his erasers. If I didn't use a word processor most of the time, I'd probably be right there with him.
TQ: What has influenced / influences your writing?
Andrew: There's a lot I could say to answer this question, but I'll limit myself to two influences—one from my own experience and one from literature. The first comes from having spent the better part of a decade living abroad, primarily in East Asia and Central America. The second influence is James Joyce, himself an expert at writing about the home of his youth while spending his adult years in exile.
TQ: Describe Lord of California in 140 characters or less.
Andrew: A speculative literary novel about a family struggling to survive in a future where America has collapsed and California is its own country.
TQ: Tell us something about Lord of California that is not found in the book description.
Andrew: I've never seen it as “dystopian” in the traditional sense. Many readers and critics will latch on to the dystopian label because such categories can be helpful in understanding how to view a new piece of work, especially from a debut author. But there are distinct ways in which I deviate from the type of storytelling found in the works of Orwell, Huxley, Atwood, etc. Nearly all dystopian novels from Zamyatin onward have directed some sort of warning to readers about the political situation of the present day. And while there are definitely elements of the story that speak to the nightmare of contemporary politics in the US, much of the novel is also focused on the rebuilding that inevitably occurs following a monumental breakdown or rift in society. Or a rift in a family.
TQ: What inspired you to write Lord of California? What appeals to you about writing Alternative History?
Andrew: In the summer of 2015 I was in a precarious place, unsure of my future prospects. I was staying at my mother's house in the Central Valley and spending a lot of time revisiting people and places from before I left. One day I sat down and started working through a rough outline of the book Lord of California would eventually become. I didn't really think of it as “alternative history” as much as it was just the story I wanted to tell at that point in my life.
TQ: What sort of research did you do for Lord of California?
Andrew: I spent a lot of time reading and thinking about moments in history where a society falls apart and transforms into something else over the course of a few generations. It happens all the time and we never call it “dystopian” or “post-apocalyptic”. But if you were growing up in the 80s in the Soviet Union and within a few short years you had to endure food shortages, Chernobyl, and the collapse of the only political system you ever knew, wouldn't you think you were living through some sort of apocalypse?
TQ: Please tell us about the cover for Lord of California.
Andrew: I like the cover more and more as time goes on. So much of Central California looks like that, though it could just as easily be a depiction of any rural setting the world over.
TQ: In Lord of California who was the easiest character to write and why? The hardest and why?
The easiest was probably Ellie's character because from the start I had a very clear notion of who she was and what her voice would be like. By contrast, the hardest character was Elliot, Jr. because it took me a long time to nail down his voice and the nature of his character.
TQ: Which question about Lord of California do you wish someone would ask? Ask it and answer it!
Andrew:
Q: Would you like to see California break off and start its own country?
A: Within a few years of independence, that country would have nothing in common with the California I know except for its name. So no, I wouldn't.
TQ: Give us one or two of your favorite non-spoilery quotes from Lord of California.
Andrew:
How do we even begin? How do we begin to build a home out of so many broken pieces?
I don't know. But we'll try our best.
That world you lost, the one that took my brother...I've tried to live up to all the good things you told me about it, and shut out the wicked things as you shut out your past. But I'm not a fresh start for anyone. I was never such pure clean clay.
TQ: What's next?
Andrew: I'm working on revisions of a novel set in Panama during the aftermath of a tsunami.
TQ: Thank you for joining us at The Qwillery.
Andrew: Thank you for having me.
Valencia, Andrew: LORD OF CALIFORNIA
Kirkus Reviews.
(Nov. 15, 2017): From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Valencia, Andrew LORD OF CALIFORNIA Ig Publishing (Adult Fiction) $16.95 1, 30 ISBN: 978-1-63246-059-2
A novel of intricate family relationships and inheritances set in a future in which California is an independent republic following the "disbandment" of the United States.
When Elliot Temple dies at the beginning of this novel, he leaves a legacy in shambles, for it turns out he's had five wives and 12 children, each family unit unknown to the others. When the families find out about each other, they get together to try to make sense of the situation and to protect the fragile hold they have on their individual farms. In the Republic of California, land is carefully parceled out, and control of acreage is capped. Elliot's marital manipulations have created a valuable legacy of 100 acres and more. The story is narrated through three points of view, and while all of the narrators are Elliot's children, each conveys a vastly different perspective. Thirteen-year-old Ellie, the first narrator, is wise beyond her years: she actively wonders how they can "begin to build a home out of so many broken pieces." The second narrator is Elliot Jr., a nasty piece of work who tries to manipulate the land situation in his favor. Much of his section is told in flashback, and we get enough glimpses of his father to learn that dad was just as cunning, devious, and vicious as junior. Anthony, the "Mexican" son, narrates the final section. Elliot had wanted Anthony to take a DNA test to prove his paternity and earlier had threatened to kill any child that wasn't his. The narrative becomes unbearably tense as Elliot Jr. tries to blackmail the extended families into forking over the land and thus disrupts their tenuous stability.
Vaguely dystopian though ultimately life-affirming, Valencia's novel is an engaging examination of family dynamics and the importance of the legacy of land.
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Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Valencia, Andrew: LORD OF CALIFORNIA." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Nov. 2017. Book Review
Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A514267777/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=f43e9cd2. Accessed 24 Feb. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A514267777
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Lord of California
Paige Van De Winkle
ForeWord.
(Dec. 27, 2017): From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2017 ForeWord http://www.forewordmagazine.com
Full Text:
Andrew Valencia; LORD OF CALIFORNIA; Ig Publishing (Fiction: Literary) 16.95 ISBN: 9781632460592
Byline: Paige Van De Winkle
This dystopian novel is poetic even in its austerity.
Andrew Valencia's dystopian Lord of California is set in rural, isolated California a few decades after it disbands from the United States. When Elliot Temple dies, each of his five wives learn of his deep duplicity. They and their many children must band together to protect their land and livelihoods.
The book is organized into three narratives, each from a different child of Elliot's. It begins with thirteen-year-old Ellie's astute and blunt perspective. Her brother Anthony's section is punctuated by stream-of-consciousness rants with inspired lyrical lines, like "Forgive me for being invigorated by unclean things. Forgive the rifle strap, forgive the kill" that touch on his spiritual struggle.
This storytelling method succeeds thanks to the novel's plain eloquence and the complex vulnerability of its characters. Simple moments of camaraderie with Ellie and Anthony seem ordinary, but they are poignantly momentous for the siblings. At a school dance, the two quiet outsiders skip out to eat Chinese takeout and watch their favorite show together.
Another portion is told through Elliot Jr.'s perspective. It is marked by dark humor, as the younger Elliot's bleak world of aging prostitutes and vodka binges is offset by his cleverness and perceptive recognition that performance is everything.
But Elliot's narrative also quickly devolves into a delivery of his father's deplorable philosophy. He sees himself as a lord burdened with reigning over his lesser serfs, reaping the benefits while they till the land. Elliot Sr. is an unforgivable narcissist, and it is at once riveting and uncomfortable to watch his descent until his death.
The implications of a disbanded United States are the backdrop for the novel, but beyond a broad-strokes condemnation of Elliot's greed, it all feels rather politically tone deaf, though real- life secession talk was revived following the 2016 presidential election. This dystopia does not
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overtly criticize current society, despite connections to it.
An understated dissection of the intersections of familial ties and morality, Lord of California is poetic even in its austerity.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Van De Winkle, Paige. "Lord of California." ForeWord, 27 Dec. 2017. Book Review Index Plus,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A520983401/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=239a2c89. Accessed 24 Feb. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A520983401
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Lord of California
Publishers Weekly.
264.43 (Oct. 23, 2017): p60+. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Lord of California
Andrew Valencia. Ig (Consortium, dist.),
$16.95 trade paper (284p) ISBN 978-1-63246059-2
Set in a future California that has declared itself an independent republic following the disbanding of the United States, Valencia's gritty debut novel chronicles a family's struggle to survive. The novel is divided into three sections, each told from the viewpoint of a main character: Ellie, one of 12 children born to a bigamist father, five of whose wives and families became aware of each other after his death; Elliot, the estranged older son of a sixth wife previously unknown to the other family members; and Anthony, Ellies stepbrother and confidant, whose religious convictions give the tale its moral center. Following their patriarch's death, the five Temple families band together to secure land in the San Joaquin Valley that ' they can farm communally to continue their hardscrabble existences. That plan is threatened when Elliot, a coastal elite like his father, contests their property rights, setting in motion a showdown that pits family members against one another. Valencia keeps the focus of his novel intimate, skillfully suggesting a nation in chaos through tensions in the Temple family. His plot takes an unexpected turn in the concluding section, with the burden of the family's fate falling almost entirely on Ellie and Anthony's shoulders. It's not completely convincing, but the prospect of personal redemption at the conclusion is a fine grace note to this bracing, tense tale. (Jan.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Lord of California." Publishers Weekly, 23 Oct. 2017, p. 60+. Book Review Index Plus,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A512184155/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=fa3e64fa. Accessed 24 Feb. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A512184155
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