Wither Creek by Ken Rossal
To say Bill Ehnert appreciates women is an understatement. Whatever female strays into his peripheral vision, he sees through his own particular pair of rose-colored glasses, which makes Ken Rossal’s newest novel, Wither Creek, a joyous and libidinous ride.
Starting out at 16, living in Smalltown America, Rossal’s everyman first falls in lust with a fellow high school sophomore in a faded, floral, too-small dress frayed at the hem, scuffed up shoes, and scrolled down socks. But what he sees is long bones, strong curves, and endless possibilities for a life of adventure. She’s from the wrong side of the tracks with questionable morals and large breasts.
Janet.
When Teenage Desire Turns Into a Wildfire
Rossal gets his main man off to a ribald start, which only gets more complicated and irresistible until it simply blows up, and Bill is off to the races. It’s a small-breasted, chunky babysitter next. (For his twin siblings. Not Bill. He’s 16.) And here we learn that what he learned from his “relationship” with Janet has created a hot little sex machine. Our Bill is the proverbial chick magnet, and this follows him throughout the book.
But it’s not all willing women and provocative hook-ups. Rossal is much more than that. A classical pianist himself — and a Vietnam veteran — Wither Creek is as much about aspiring musicians and combat soldiers as it is about what is loosely presented as romance.
From Dive Bars to the DMZ with Bill and His Bass
Bill has a budding relationship with his acoustic guitar which, between women, he picks up and actually gets pretty good at, until he stumbles into learning to play the bass. The next few chapters are wonderful stories about travelling from crappy bars to profitable gigs in popular clubs, including the requisite chord changes, capos, booze, and women.
But Wither Creek really stands out during the pages of Part II, the section of the book where hapless Bill ends up in Vietnam. It’s an accurate account of the war back then, and a powerfully engaging section of Bill’s story. Readers see more of Bill than was there in the first half of the book. The war is unsettling and real. The writing here is clear and sturdy; humor and horror show up side by side, like they really do in combat. And Rossal does a great job of writing about it.
But all books come to an end, and Wither Creek ties it all up for our man Bill, finally, kind of, so readers may wonder when Rossal’s next book is due in order to fall a little bit in love with another everyman, another Bill.
About Ken Rossal:
Ken Rossal is a retired truck driver, classical pianist, and Vietnam veteran from Chicago, where he lives with his wife of thirty-two years, Jeanne, and their German Shepherd, Dillinger. Before his time on the road, Ken spent over thirty years in the printing and publishing industry, including twelve years living and working in Australia. After retiring, Ken settled down to writing. In his free time, he is either trying to master Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto or taking on freelance editing and ghostwriting jobs from aspiring authors. He is currently working on his next book, Redgate Island.
Buy this Book!
Barnes & Noble
