Shirtless Men Drink Free

by Dwaine Rieves

$17.95

In a vision above her mother’s deathbed, Doctor Jane Beekman sees her dying mother’s soul—a soul struggling with a decision, some undone task, something in this world too noble to leave. The sight was brief, but surely a lesson. The lingering question—Why?—prompts a shift in the doctor’s priorities. For in this election year Jane must do what her mother, an aspiring social activist, would have done.

Soon, Jane is deep in the world of Georgia politics, working to make sure her dynamic young brother-in-law Jackson Beekman is elected the next governor, regardless of what the soul of the candidate’s dead father or that of his living brother—Jane’s husband—might want done. Indeed, it is a mother’s persistence and a father’s legacy that will ultimately turn one Beekman brother against the other, a struggle with moral consequences that may extend far beyond Georgia.


Set amidst 2004’s polarizing election fears—immigrants and job takeovers, terrorists in waiting, homosexuals and outsider agendas—Shirtless Men Drink Free makes vivid the human soul’s struggle in a world bedeviled by desire and the fears that leave us all asking—Why?
s that leave us all asking—Why?

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  • Description

  • In a vision above her mother’s deathbed, Doctor Jane Beekman sees her dying mother’s soul—a soul struggling with a decision, some undone task, something in this world too noble to leave. The sight was brief, but surely a lesson. The lingering question—Why?—prompts a shift in the doctor’s priorities. For in this election year Jane must do what her mother, an aspiring social activist, would have done.

    Soon, Jane is deep in the world of Georgia politics, working to make sure her dynamic young brother-in-law Jackson Beekman is elected the next governor, regardless of what the soul of the candidate’s dead father or that of his living brother—Jane’s husband—might want done. Indeed, it is a mother’s persistence and a father’s legacy that will ultimately turn one Beekman brother against the other, a struggle with moral consequences that may extend far beyond Georgia.

    Set amidst 2004’s polarizing election fears—immigrants and job takeovers, terrorists in waiting, homosexuals and outsider agendas—Shirtless Men Drink Free makes vivid the human soul’s struggle in a world bedeviled by desire and the fears that leave us all asking—Why?

    Format: paperback
    ISBN: 978-1-946507-04-4

  • About The Author

  • Dwaine Rieves was born and raised in Monroe County, Mississippi. Following a career as a research pharmaceutical scientist and critical care physician, he completed an MA in writing from Johns Hopkins University. His poetry has won the Tupelo Press Prize for Poetry and the River Styx International Poetry Prize. His writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The Baltimore Sun, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Georgia Review and other publications. Visit his website at www.dwainerieves.com.

  • Critics' Reviews

  • “Dwaine Rieves writes fiction with such authority that it’s hard to believe Shirtless Men Drink Free is a first novel and not a tenth. This is brilliant and rare work, as attentive to an absorbing plot as it is to a poetic, chiseled cadence.”—Paul Lisicky, award-winning author of The Narrow Door: A Memoir of Friendship

    “These characters are all too real. Rieves, as Faulkner, McMurtry, and Larry Brown, writes people and story that will worm, burrow into you. Change you even.”—Adam Van Winkle, Founder and Editor, Cowboy Jamboree

    “This is as haunting and wise a novel as any you will read this year.”—Margaret Meyers, author of Swimming in the Congo

  • Excerpts

  • No information is available.

  • Weight

  • 0.4 lbs

  • Dimensions

  • 6 × 0.5 × 9 in

  • Awards

  • No Information
In a vision above her mother’s deathbed, Doctor Jane Beekman sees her dying mother’s soul—a soul struggling with a decision, some undone task, something in this world too noble to leave. The sight was brief, but surely a lesson. The lingering question—Why?—prompts a shift in the doctor’s priorities. For in this election year Jane must do what her mother, an aspiring social activist, would have done.

Soon, Jane is deep in the world of Georgia politics, working to make sure her dynamic young brother-in-law Jackson Beekman is elected the next governor, regardless of what the soul of the candidate’s dead father or that of his living brother—Jane’s husband—might want done. Indeed, it is a mother’s persistence and a father’s legacy that will ultimately turn one Beekman brother against the other, a struggle with moral consequences that may extend far beyond Georgia.

Set amidst 2004’s polarizing election fears—immigrants and job takeovers, terrorists in waiting, homosexuals and outsider agendas—Shirtless Men Drink Free makes vivid the human soul’s struggle in a world bedeviled by desire and the fears that leave us all asking—Why?

Format: paperback
ISBN: 978-1-946507-04-4

Dwaine Rieves was born and raised in Monroe County, Mississippi. Following a career as a research pharmaceutical scientist and critical care physician, he completed an MA in writing from Johns Hopkins University. His poetry has won the Tupelo Press Prize for Poetry and the River Styx International Poetry Prize. His writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The Baltimore Sun, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Georgia Review and other publications. Visit his website at www.dwainerieves.com.

“Dwaine Rieves writes fiction with such authority that it’s hard to believe Shirtless Men Drink Free is a first novel and not a tenth. This is brilliant and rare work, as attentive to an absorbing plot as it is to a poetic, chiseled cadence.”—Paul Lisicky, award-winning author of The Narrow Door: A Memoir of Friendship

“These characters are all too real. Rieves, as Faulkner, McMurtry, and Larry Brown, writes people and story that will worm, burrow into you. Change you even.”—Adam Van Winkle, Founder and Editor, Cowboy Jamboree

“This is as haunting and wise a novel as any you will read this year.”—Margaret Meyers, author of Swimming in the Congo
No information is available.
0.4 lbs
6 × 0.5 × 9 in
No Information