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Your Fathers, Where Are They? And the Prophets, Do They Live Forever?

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From Dave Eggers, best-selling author of The Circle, a tightly controlled, emotionally searching novel. Your Fathers, Where Are They? And the Prophets, Do They Live Forever? is the formally daring, brilliantly executed story of one man struggling to make sense of his country, seeking answers the only way he knows how.
 
In a barracks on an abandoned military base, miles from the nearest road, Thomas watches as the man he has brought wakes up. Kev, a NASA astronaut, doesn't recognize his captor, though Thomas remembers him. Kev cries for help. He pulls at his chain. But the ocean is close by, and nobody can hear him over the waves and wind. Thomas apologizes. He didn't want to have to resort to this. But they really needed to have a conversation, and Kev didn't answer his messages. And now, if Kev can just stop yelling, Thomas has a few questions.
 
Read by MacLeod Andrews with Mark Deakins, Michelle Gonzalez, John H. Mayer, Kate McGregor-Stewart, Rebecca Lowman, Bruce Turk, and Marc Cashman.
BUILDING 52
 
—I did it. You’re really here. An astronaut. Jesus.
 
—Who’s that?
 
—You probably have a headache. From the chloroform.
 
—What? Where am I? Where is this place? Who the fuck are you?
 
—You don’t recognize me?
 
—What? No. What is this?
 
—That? It’s a chain. It’s attached to that post. Don’t pull on it.
 
—Holy shit. Holy shit.
 
—I said don’t pull on it. And I have to tell you right away how sorry I am that you’re here under these circumstances.
 
—Who are you?
 
—We know each other, Kev. From way back. And I didn’t want to bring you here like this. I mean, I’d rather just grab a beer with you sometime, but you didn’t answer any of my letters and then I saw you were coming through town so— Really, don’t yank on that. You’ll mess up your leg.
 
—Why the fuck am I here?
 
—You’re here because I brought you here.
 
—You did this? You have me chained to a post?
 
—Isn’t that thing great? I don’t know if you’d call it a post. Whatever it is, it’s incredibly strong. This place came with them. This was a military base...
  • SHORTLIST | 2016
    International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
© Brecht van Maele
DAVE EGGERS is the author of many books, among them The Eyes and the Impossible, The CircleThe Monk of MokhaHeroes of the FrontierA Hologram for the King, and What Is the What. He is the founder of McSweeney’s, an independent publishing company, and co-founder of 826 Valencia, a youth writing center that has inspired over 70 similar organizations worldwide. Eggers is winner of the American Book Award, the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award for Education, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, the TED Prize, and has been a finalist for the National Book Award, the Pulitzer Prize, and the National Book Critics Circle Award. He is the 2024 John Newbery Medalist, for the most distinguished contribution to children's literature for The Eyes and the Impossible. Eggers is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

www.daveeggers.net View titles by Dave Eggers

About

From Dave Eggers, best-selling author of The Circle, a tightly controlled, emotionally searching novel. Your Fathers, Where Are They? And the Prophets, Do They Live Forever? is the formally daring, brilliantly executed story of one man struggling to make sense of his country, seeking answers the only way he knows how.
 
In a barracks on an abandoned military base, miles from the nearest road, Thomas watches as the man he has brought wakes up. Kev, a NASA astronaut, doesn't recognize his captor, though Thomas remembers him. Kev cries for help. He pulls at his chain. But the ocean is close by, and nobody can hear him over the waves and wind. Thomas apologizes. He didn't want to have to resort to this. But they really needed to have a conversation, and Kev didn't answer his messages. And now, if Kev can just stop yelling, Thomas has a few questions.
 
Read by MacLeod Andrews with Mark Deakins, Michelle Gonzalez, John H. Mayer, Kate McGregor-Stewart, Rebecca Lowman, Bruce Turk, and Marc Cashman.

Excerpt

BUILDING 52
 
—I did it. You’re really here. An astronaut. Jesus.
 
—Who’s that?
 
—You probably have a headache. From the chloroform.
 
—What? Where am I? Where is this place? Who the fuck are you?
 
—You don’t recognize me?
 
—What? No. What is this?
 
—That? It’s a chain. It’s attached to that post. Don’t pull on it.
 
—Holy shit. Holy shit.
 
—I said don’t pull on it. And I have to tell you right away how sorry I am that you’re here under these circumstances.
 
—Who are you?
 
—We know each other, Kev. From way back. And I didn’t want to bring you here like this. I mean, I’d rather just grab a beer with you sometime, but you didn’t answer any of my letters and then I saw you were coming through town so— Really, don’t yank on that. You’ll mess up your leg.
 
—Why the fuck am I here?
 
—You’re here because I brought you here.
 
—You did this? You have me chained to a post?
 
—Isn’t that thing great? I don’t know if you’d call it a post. Whatever it is, it’s incredibly strong. This place came with them. This was a military base...

Awards

  • SHORTLIST | 2016
    International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award

Author

© Brecht van Maele
DAVE EGGERS is the author of many books, among them The Eyes and the Impossible, The CircleThe Monk of MokhaHeroes of the FrontierA Hologram for the King, and What Is the What. He is the founder of McSweeney’s, an independent publishing company, and co-founder of 826 Valencia, a youth writing center that has inspired over 70 similar organizations worldwide. Eggers is winner of the American Book Award, the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award for Education, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, the TED Prize, and has been a finalist for the National Book Award, the Pulitzer Prize, and the National Book Critics Circle Award. He is the 2024 John Newbery Medalist, for the most distinguished contribution to children's literature for The Eyes and the Impossible. Eggers is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

www.daveeggers.net View titles by Dave Eggers