Drumlummon Institute Publishes New Collection of Stories by Montana Writer Matt Pavelich

To kick off its tenth anniversary celebration (2006-2016), Drumlummon Institute, Helena, Montana, is pleased to announce the launch of its new Contemporary Fiction Series with the short story collection, Survivors Said, by Matt Pavelich.

One of Montana's and the West's finest fiction writers, Matt Pavelich is an author of universal appeal. His earlier books, the collection of stories, Beasts of the Forest, Beasts of the Field, and the novels, Our Savage and The Other Shoe, have been acclaimed by both reviewers and fellow authors.

Now, with the publication of Survivors Said, his best stories written over four decades, Pavelich reveals extraordinary range and penetrating vision.

In praising Survivors Said, novelist Pete Fromm writes: "Matt Pavelich is a Montana original. From the very first story of Survivors Said, . . . you're along for the ride. And what a driver Pavelich is, never missing a turn, but keeping you up on two wheels through most of it. Hang on, he's taking you places few writers ever have."

Novelist Deirdre McNamer, author of Red Rover, notes, "Matt Pavelich creates utterly singular characters and tells their stories with passion, heart, and wit. He has a terrific ear for the cadences of rural Montana talk, and an insider's complicated affection for the gorgeous, impervious place itself. Survivors Said is a gift."

Ralph Beer, author of The Blind Corral, has written, "Matt Pavelich has given us a brilliant new collection of short fiction." And novelist Gish Jen enthuses, "What writing! The stories in Survivors Said are of the young and the old, of people getting out and people getting by. . . . [A]ll of them are vintage Pavelich: sharp-sighted and phrased just so, they are singularly alert to the worlds in a word."

In praising Pavelich's second novel , Daniel Woodrell, author of Winter's Bone, wrote, "Matt Pavelich is a native Montanan, he knows that world inside and out, and The Other Shoe is rich with details that convince, insights that amaze. His prose is among the most impressive now being written, elegant, nuanced, rough when needed, the high and low of language. The Other Shoe, is a brilliant novel of crime, love, and the American West, and it deserves a wide readership."

The late Evan S. Connell, bestselling author of Son of the Morning Star, called Pavelich's first novel Our Savage "an extraordinary book, more Continental than American. . . . I don't know anything like it in our literature. . . . Matt Pavelich is uncommonly vital and original."

Writing in the Washington Post, Lizzie Skurnick wrote: "Some authors can master domestic scenes, and others are successful at handling sweeping, historical tableaux, but Pavelich is the rare writer who can skillfully combine the two."

A graduate of the University of Montana, the Iowa Writers Workshop, and the Northwest School of Law, Matt Pavelich makes his home in Hot Springs, Montana.

Survivors Said is available from fine bookstores everywhere, or directly from the book's distributor, Riverbend Publishing. To order, call or write Riverbend: (406) 449-0200; janet(at)riverbendpublishing.com; P.O. Box 5833, Helena, MT 59604-5833; http://www.riverbendpublishing.com/survivors-said.html. The 328-page softcover book is available for $16.95. Libraries receive a 20 percent discount.