Lake Effect Days

For some time now I've been following Philip Sultz's capsule narratives of his early years as a young artist among 'the guys' of his primal neighborhood in early postwar working-class Buffalo. The authentic tone and movement of these works is remarkable, and the cumulative effect shows this as a unified work of attention and imagination. In all of it, too, he knows so well when to begin a story and when and how to end it, and the voices of his guys ring wonderfully true to life and crystal clear. An empathic and often comic and sublime work of art by a man who has dedicated his life to making art happen. --Jerome Rothenberg, poet and editor of Technicians of the Sacred: A Range of Poetries from Africa, America, Asia, Europe, and Oceania I liked Sultz's work from the start. It's energetic, original, real, natural. He gets voice down as well as any writer I've read. His stories are mostly funny, but a few are touching. It's rare that I click with a writer's work so quickly, but I did with his. His timing is perfect. He is among the very best contemporary writers I know of. --Stephen Dixon, two-time National Book Award finalist, author of Frog and Interstate My heart split open as I read these stories, remembering the similar tales told by my husband's family about Jewish Buffalo in the 40s and 50s. These brief narratives elicit strong responses. --Lucy Kogler Philip Sultz is a natural. By zeroing in on a moment, a conversation, an incident, or an encounter, Sultz has composed a series of literary snapshots of times past. There's a beautiful quietness about these fragmentary life studies. There's something glancing, informal, caught-on-the-quick about Sultz's recollections of encounters with people, places, and things. As we take in more and more of Sultz's stories, they begin to compose not only a personal album but also a communal album?the history of a generation. Sultz has for most of his life been better known as a painter than as a writer. His artistic and literary activities are informed by the same pungent poetic gift. Sultz's remembrances will make a remarkable book?something for readers to plunge into, to savor, and to return to time and again. --Jed Perl, author of Calder: The Conquest of Time and New Art City: Manhattan at Mid-Century We've always known Philip Sultz can work with a brush and palette. In Lake Effect Days he displays equal ability to create compositions with words. Anyone interested in the intersection between visual art and fiction will enjoy these stories. --Gregg Easterbrook, author, The Leading Indicators