Ash Clifton grew up in Gainesville, Florida, home of the University of Florida, where his father was a deputy sheriff and, later, the Chief of Police. He graduated from U.F. with a degree in English, then got an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Arizona. He lives in Gainesville with his wife and son. He writes mystery, thriller, and science fiction novels.
Clifton's new novel is Twice The Trouble.
At Shepherd he tagged five titles that feel "like a genre novel (that is, it has a great plot) but also has the depth and vividness of a literary novel." One title on the list:
Read about the other entries on the list.Dog Soldiers by Robert Stone
This is my favorite novel. I read it every year or so, and each time, I feel like it makes my own writing better.
Set in the latter years of the Vietnam War, it tells the story of two friends—Converse, a war-traumatized journalist, and Hicks, a world-weary, cynical marine—who smuggle three kilos of heroin back to Berkeley, California.
I love the realism of this book, but it might be too brutal were it not tempered by how intelligent and sympathetic the main characters are, even when doing terrible things. The book feels exactly like a crime/adventure novel, exploring the dark underbelly of the counterculture in the 1970s. It’s also an amazingly complex and philosophical novel about the balance between morality and ego.
Dog Soldiers is among T.C. Boyle's six best books that explore man's inherent violence.
--Marshal Zeringue
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