Emperor of the Air

by Ethan Canin

Published 7 October 1988
Written by the winner of the James Michener Award and the Henfield/Transatlantic Review Award, this is a collection of short stories which explores the beauty and mystery in everyday existence. Other work by the author includes "Blue River" and "The Palace Thief".

Blue River

by Ethan Canin

Published 1 November 1991
"Blue River" tells the story of two brothers: Lawrence, brilliant but seething with anger, and Edward, responsible but cautious to a fault. To their mother, and to the world, Lawrence was always the bad brother, Edward always the good one. Over the years Edward has been both sustained and haunted by this perception; now a successful opthalmologist in his early thirties, his life seems a bulwark against any thought that the truth might be more complicated. Then his brother, whom he hasn't seen in ten years, appears one morning on his doorstep, knocking on his conscience. Lawrence has become everything Edward is not-- a drifter, gambler, a man on the run. Sly and somehow menacing, Lawrence challenges Edwards beliefs about who he really is, forcing him to recall their tumultuous childhood and uncover a long-buried story of betrayal.