As a micro-epic The Pit, and No Other Stories has a little of everything: small town American gothic, hard-boiled detective noir, spy thriller, Hollywood drama, folklore, science fiction, historical fiction, surrealism, horror gore, punk romance, and satire of American capitalism and consumerism.
The Pit, and No Other Stories, might be a familiar reading experience to that of viewing the ABC television program, Lost, or David Lynch’s Twin Peaks. Many characters, different story lines, obvious points of connection, some less obvious, and many fun, stage-setting red herrings.
The Pit, and No Other Stories contains important themes about the failings of the American Dream, exploitation, and the objectification of human beings, but it also expresses a deep veneration for storytelling, narrative, and the triumph of the human spirit through art.
Foreword by Everett Steele III
Afterword by John Reed
Cover Image by Mars Piacente and Grant Beecher
Praise for The Pit and No Other Stories:
“The Pit, and No Other Stories is a novella full of histories and ideas. It is a story about the trials and obstacles that fall into our path as we desperately try to unearth the genius within something we deeply care for. The Pit is a journey in it self, a ride with flashes of life and an ending in a place, in a world, you didn’t anticipate but because of Rothacker’s craftsmanship, you find yourself wholeheartedly accepting.”
—Melissa Ximena Golebiowski, As It Ought to Be Magazine
“These tales are noir jewels born of a celestial meeting between Edgar Allan Poe, Jorge Luis Borges, and Alfred Hitchcock. Mysterious, cinematic, and dark, they draw you in from the first to the last. I read breathlessly to find out comes next, and in every case, what came next was a challenge to my own best guess. The superb, taut writing emits a vapor of menace and delight. About one of his clients’ accent a private eye in an early story tells us, “It sounded more of a class than a geography.” About these stories I feel almost the same—they are unique, in a class of their own, yet situated firmly in a geography bounded by the above-mentioned masters of suspense.”
—Andrei Codrescu, author of Whatever Gets You Through the Night: a Story of Sheherezade and The Posthuman Dada Guide: Tzara and Lenin Play Chess
“Overall, fans of works such as David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas, Philip K. Dick’s writing or shows such as Lost and True Detective will find it easy to connect to Rothacker’s Pit. You’ll find a Star Wars reference and shades of The X-Files. The Pit, and No Other Stories utilizes elements of the mystical without becoming obtuse, and the philosophical themes juxtapose nicely with the more fantastical scenes. The manipulations and connections of the characters create moments of true tenderness that are often punctuated by tragedy, a place where magic intersects with the stark reality of what it is to be human.”
—Andrea Boyd, The Athens Banner-Herald
“Part of the joy of reading The Pit, and No Other Stories is seeing how these seemingly disparate threads come together—which often happens in unexpected ways.”
— Tobias Carroll, The Brooklyn Rail
