Blake and Jamie Ackerman grew up on the lip of a pinewood in Harmswood, Arkansas. Raised by an alcoholic mother and a Vietnam-War veteran uncle, they have grown up believing in gods beyond the chicken wire fence that steal children from their beds. After an accident in the pines that leaves Blake blind in one eye, the boys’ lives change. They grow up and drift apart until the memories of their childhood force the contents of Blake’s blind spot out into the light.
A sort of scrapbook of place magic. Almost told by ecology itself, The Smoke is Me, Burning has a reliable cyclical power that is often the mark of good art.
- Jonathan McAloon, journalist for the BBC, The Guardian, and TLS
The lore, the blood mythology, the whole thing crackling with meaning, insight, lyric energy.
- Eoin McNamee, author of Resurrection Man, Orchid Blue, and The Blue Tango
The Smoke is me, Burning continues the Southern Gothic tradition while re-imagining it at the same time. Themes made familiar by William Faulkner, Cormac McCarthy and William Gay run through the narrative, but they are transformed by Blintzios’ language and the singularity of his vision. From the first scene to the last, this is a compelling novel, one that will haunt a reader the way the gods haunt the ill-fated brothers.
- Patrick Parks, author of Tucumcari
PRESS
- Genrepunk's Top 100 Indie Books of the 21st Century
- CA Blintzios wins Authors Foundation Award
- Interview in The Bookends Review
- Review in The Porter House Review
- Interview in Fish Factory
- Article in CNN
- Notice in DisQuiet
- Notice in Oxford University's Masters in Creative Writing Blog
About the Author
Constantine Blintzios is a Greek/British writer. He has a background in music and Contemporary Art and holds an Mst in Creative Writing from the University of Oxford. He has had poetry, short stories and reviews published in journals such as Visual Verse, Ash magazine, Paris Lit-Up, the Oxonian Review and the Literary Review. His poem ‘Where I am From’ was shortlisted for the 2017 Martin Starkie awards, he was long-listed for the 2019 DISQUIET fiction prize. As of 2021, his manuscript was longlisted for the Laxfield Literary Launch Prize and is a finalist for the international Eyelands Book Awards. He is currently a PhD candidate in nightmare aesthetics at the University of Bristol.
- Jonathan McAloon, journalist for the BBC, The Guardian, and TLS
The lore, the blood mythology, the whole thing crackling with meaning, insight, lyric energy.
- Eoin McNamee, author of Resurrection Man, Orchid Blue, and The Blue Tango
The Smoke is me, Burning continues the Southern Gothic tradition while re-imagining it at the same time. Themes made familiar by William Faulkner, Cormac McCarthy and William Gay run through the narrative, but they are transformed by Blintzios’ language and the singularity of his vision. From the first scene to the last, this is a compelling novel, one that will haunt a reader the way the gods haunt the ill-fated brothers.
- Patrick Parks, author of Tucumcari
PRESS
- Genrepunk's Top 100 Indie Books of the 21st Century
- CA Blintzios wins Authors Foundation Award
- Interview in The Bookends Review
- Review in The Porter House Review
- Interview in Fish Factory
- Article in CNN
- Notice in DisQuiet
- Notice in Oxford University's Masters in Creative Writing Blog
About the Author
Constantine Blintzios is a Greek/British writer. He has a background in music and Contemporary Art and holds an Mst in Creative Writing from the University of Oxford. He has had poetry, short stories and reviews published in journals such as Visual Verse, Ash magazine, Paris Lit-Up, the Oxonian Review and the Literary Review. His poem ‘Where I am From’ was shortlisted for the 2017 Martin Starkie awards, he was long-listed for the 2019 DISQUIET fiction prize. As of 2021, his manuscript was longlisted for the Laxfield Literary Launch Prize and is a finalist for the international Eyelands Book Awards. He is currently a PhD candidate in nightmare aesthetics at the University of Bristol.