Birds in
many cultures, including Mexican and American Indian, are considered a link
between heaven and earth. In William
J. Cobb's fierce new novel “The Bird Saviors,” our winged companions are
harbingers of environmental disaster in a near future of economic turmoil,
fundamentalist sects, weather change, severe drought, work shortages,
immigration crisis and systemic corruption.
Sound
familiar? Birds also are the source of a flu that causes feverish death.
Navigating
this gritty Colorado landscape (literally, red sandstorms turn falling snow a
pretty pink shade) is Ruby
Cole, a 17-year-old high-school dropout with a baby named Lila and a
yearning to make life better for her and her daughter.
Cobb, who
grew up in San Antonio and earned writing degrees from Texas
State University and the University
of Houston, will read from and sign copies of “The Bird Saviors” from 5 to
7 p.m. Thursday at the Twig Book Shop at Pearl Brewery.
Ruby's war
veteran father, whom she refers to as “Lord God,” returned from the Middle East
minus a leg and an eye and plus an Old Testament religious passion. He wants to
marry her off to a polygamist “Saint,” a member of a radical Mormon sect — “the
American Taliban” — that is not above hijacking tanker trucks and selling the
gasoline for profit.
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