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Hank Schachte's The Train (Ad Hoc 2015) is a novella about a man writing the eulogy for his father as he travels on a train. His father had died mere days earlier on the same train. This story of loss and love is a common experience. In this case, the protagonist relives his relationship with his father, their casual estrangement and the finality of death. Killing Time (New Star, 2006) follows a man who, after a car accident, loses both his memory and his ability to form new memories. He is living with a couple who are looking after him, but he can't fathom the nature of their triad. As the plot unravels and his short-term memory slowly returns, the reader remains one step ahead of the character in realizing his past identity as well as what the future holds in store. Schachte is also the author of a pocket-sized travel advisory about maintaining fitness, Vagabond Fitness: A Field Manual for Travelers (Orca, 1995). He lives on Saturna Island in a cabin he built himself.. He also flies his own airplane.
BOOKS
Vagabond Fitness: A Field Manual for Travelers (Orca 1995)
Killing Time (New Star 2006) $18 1-55420-019-9
The Train (Ad Hoc 2015) 978-0-9939869-0-1
[BCBW 2015] "Fiction"
BOOKS
Vagabond Fitness: A Field Manual for Travelers (Orca 1995)
Killing Time (New Star 2006) $18 1-55420-019-9
The Train (Ad Hoc 2015) 978-0-9939869-0-1
[BCBW 2015] "Fiction"
Articles: 1 Article for this author
Killing Time (New Star, $18)
Review
In Hank Schachte's short novel Killing Time (New Star, $18) the central character loses his memory and his ability to form new memories in the aftermath of a car accident. What follows is an unusual story which slips backward, chapter by chapter, eventually revealing the complicated relationships between Richard and his brother and his brother's lover, Cindy. As the plot unravels and Richard's short-term memory slowly returns, the reader remains one step ahead of the character in realizing his past identity as well as what the future holds in store. Schachte's background in film is evident-using long, loose sentences, often with minimal punctuation, the author attempts to mimic the free-flowing nature of visual memory. Part of the impetus for this literary mystery was Schachte's interest in examining the constructs of time and memory. "I have always been interested in the particularly human perception of time,"; he says. "The story explores this idea of memory as a form of prejudice--how memory and experience influence our perceptions of the present moment and our construct of personal reality."; Schachte, a screenwriter, is also the author of a non-fiction book, Vagabond Fitness: A Field Manual for Travelers, published by Orca in 1995. His feature film, Silence, screened at the Sundance Festival in 1999 and a new novella is the subject of a screenplay under development. Schachte, who became a licensed pilot in 1958, flies his own Cessna and lives on Saturna Island, where he is an aficionado of vintage Saabs. 1-55420-019-9
[BCBW 2006]
