Whiskey Nipple

By Doug Frelke

This second edition of Doug Frelke's first collection of stories includes a new story, "Sad Country Songs." These stories walk the fine-line of love, from a 15 year-old punk rocker learning to deal... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0977228312
• ISBN13: 9780977228317
• Release Date: October 2005
• Publisher: Press 53, LLC
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.47 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

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In Whiskey Nipple, Doug Frelke's first collection of short stories, he has given voice to the unheard. These are stories about everyman. The person who is trying so hard to get it right but never does. He is reaching for the gold ring on the merry-go-round of life, but it is always just out of reach. You will feel his pain, frustration, desperation and lonliness. Although the collection of stories is short, Whiskey Nipple's characters will haunt you long after you have finished reading.

Whiskey Nipple:a different glance into American culture

Through the collection of these stories the reader is able to encounter a diverse look at the darker side of human existence in our modern American culture. This culture is one that many of us want to ignore, or find it as a form of amusement on such shows like Jerry Springer and Ricki Lake. The fact is that this dimension of our society exists and the author respectfully details the plights of these individuals through his vivid portrayal of their experiences. These stories offer an insight into our society that we all must be aware of in order gain the full picture of our American culture

Begin Your Acquaintance with Doug Frelke Now

It's likely you've never heard of Doug Frelke, but the time is coming when everybody who reads fiction will know the name. The proof is a single story in this collection. It's called "Push," and it's as fine a story as you're ever going to read by an undiscovered writer. Remember the name.

Whiskey Nipple

Although the book is slight--a mere 94 pages--its reach is huge, its seven stories spanning a geographical and emotional depth rarely seen in short fiction today. Half the stories center around Navy life, and we are taken to places that recall an earlier time in American fiction, landscapes as rich and evocative as those of Melville. The comparison doesn't end there. Just as Ahab was haunted by his uncaught wale, Frelke's characters are haunted by the unfinished business of their lives: the used car salesman contemplating a life unlived, the young Naval officer coming to terms with the death of a father he never really knew, the Philipino engineman, willing to bleed freely for a tattoo that will "say it all," the "Navy Legacy" turned tattooist who beat his bunkmate to death for the last life preserver. Frelke, like his ancient tattoo artist, is a "skillful renderer," creating characters that are at once unique--almost fantastic--and struggle with real dilemmas. They elicit our empathy as well as our fascination.Frelke is also a master at creating setting. From the swampy, unmarked gravel roads of "Blackbeard's Country" to the seedy Australian port of bars and whorehouses to a makeshift medical clinic in a run-down VA hospital, Frelke shows the ability to transport the reader. The sparseness of the prose provides a stark background for the luminous symbols and characters that seem to emerge from the page and straight into our consciousness. I enjoyed this collection immensely.

Wonderfully provocative.....buy this book!

I like the stories that I've read in Doug Frelke's "Whiskey Nipple". They are well written and wonderfully provocative. The stories affirm a wide range of human emotion and experience. " Living with the Magician" raises my consciousness about disability, and about a father and daughter's love for each other. "El Corazon" depicts a disturbing scene of homophobia in the military. "Love Canvas" is an engrossing tale of passion gone mad. " In "White Dog" a naval officer stuggles with the grief of his own father's death as he comforts another... My spirit was touched. I highly recommend this book. Ed Marsh