THE GIMMICKS

Growing up in Soviet Armenia, Avo and Ruben create a bond of brotherhood that they pledge is unbreakable. But when Ruben's allegiance to the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia begins to involve Avo, Avo must reconcile his own views of personal responsibility with the mark the Armenian Genocide has left on him.

At Ruben's orchestration, ASALA sends Avo to California, leaving his fiancée, Mina, behind in Armenia, until a chance encounter with pro- wrestling manager "Angel Hair" Krill gives Avo the means, Avo hopes, to break with ASALA.

THE GIMMICKS deftly weaves together the lives of Avo, Ruben, and Mina as they search for each other and themselves with the aid of Angel Hair, now a cat-breeder, who may know more about Avo than he lets on. THE GIMMICKS has elements of The Association Of Small Bombs, in the way it looks at national identity through interlinked narratives (but set against the immigrant American experience). Chabon's Amazing Adventures Of Kavalier And Clay is also a worthy comparison, in the way it takes a big-scope story of friendship and love through historical events and a "low-brow" art form (i.e., comics and wrestling respectively).

Chris McCormick is a tenure-track professor of Creative Writing at the University of Minnesota-Mankato, and received his MFA from the University of Michigan, where he wastherecipient of two Hopwood Awards. He has already received exuberant praise from Karen Russell, Peter Ho Davies, Chigozie Obioma, Claire Vaye Watkins, Hector Tobar, Kirkus (starred review), Refinery29 (Best Books of the Year), and The San Francisco Chronicle. In addition to the Stonewall, his short story collection, DESERT BOYS, has also been short-listed for the Saroyan Prize and Binghamton University's John Gardner Fiction Book Award. His essays and stories have appeared in The Atlantic, Tin House, Ploughshares, and The Offing.