Tight Like That

When jazz musicians of the ’30s and ’40s were gettin’ down, when things were really cookin’ they’d say, Yeah, make it tight like that. It meant things were good, as good as they could get. It’s a good thing in fiction, too. The stories in Jim Christy’s latest collection span time and space, taking us from the depression-era Deep South to the modern-day Vancouver commute. Private eyes. Old drunks. Yuppies, hippies, and everyone in between gets the trademark Christy work-over. He roughs ’em up until they show their mettle. His characters inhabit a world where one wrong move, no matter how small, can set in motion the direst of consequences. Luckily, they don’t let it get in the way of having a fine old time. Compelling, transforming, this collection makes you long for the days when a cup of coffee cost a dime, and dignity wasn’t for sale.

Praise for Tight Like That:

“the writing is the rock he builds the rest on, a good fresh prose that…never wastes a word” (Globe and Mail)

“truly extraordinary and enduring power” (Vancouver Sun )

“Although most of the stories are set in the very recent past, each shows Christy engaging stylistically with the bygone age of grittier, more mercenary story scribblers. The narrative passages are terse and propulsive, the dialogue as sharp as a smashed bottle, and the witty, hardcooked tone gleefully treads the thin line between throwback and anachronism. It’s not surprising that among Christy’s 20-odd previous books is biographical work on Charles Bukowski.” (Quill & Quire)

AUTHOR

Jim Christy

Always in search of original characters and experiences, Jim Christy is a literary vagabond with few peers. He was once described by George Woodcock as “one of the last unpurged North American anarchistic romantics.” His publisher has called him a hip Indiana Jones; one reviewer credited him with a “Gary Cooper-like presence.” His buddies have included hobos, jazz musicians, boxers, and non-academic writers such as Charles Bukowski, Peter Trower and Joe Ferone. “I never dismiss another’s story out of hand,” he writes, “no matter what it’s about or how outrageous it may seem.” Christy’s often wry reminiscences of his travels, trysts and trials are fuelled by a hard-won pride. A gardener, a sculptor and a spoken word performer with a jazz/blues ensemble, Christy has been seen in film and television productions, usually in non-speaking roles as a thug or a gangster.