Long Slow Distance: a novel
Thomas Phillips
A poetic and at times mysterious novel, Long Slow Distance begins as a portrait of a person, a runner, who appears to have difficulty in occupying the world around him. His identity is ambiguous, his manner, calm. He is thin. As he moves (thinks, runs, works, shares), his own corporeity is increasingly called into question. He seems to disappear, he moves on. What follows is a series of snapshots—of events, lives, environments, bodies in motion—that proceeds from one city to another, and in which one might encounter a semblance, the runner’s faint yet indelible footprints. Always moving, forever becoming, disappearing.
Read an excerpt of Long Slow Distance (in PDF) here.
About the author
Thomas Phillips was born in 1969. A writer of fiction and theory, he is also known as a composer of minimalist electronic music. Long Slow Distance is his first novel.
Learn more about Thomas (aka Tomas) Phillips here, and also here (external links).
Interview
In April of 2009, just prior to the publication of Long Slow Distance, Richard di Santo of Object Press sat down with Thomas Phillips to talk about his novel and literary interests. Read the interview here.
Reviews
‘Long Slow Distance is what one might call a minimalist story. A mere 115 pages and a character whose name we don’t even know, it’s a very talented Thomas Phillips who pulls off writing in such a manner while still connecting to his audience. ‘Distance’ seems to be the key word to this story, as the main character certainly keeps his. Yet even though we don’t get to know him that well, our desire to do so keeps us reading, piecing together what we can. Perhaps it’s because we’ve all known such people, and as any reader knows, it’s the mysteries of human nature and a bit of a voyeuristic spirit that keeps most of us up to our eyeballs in books. Long Slow Distance gives the voyeur-by-book a good fix, and gives it brilliantly. As our runner all but disappears, leaving little more than fleeting shadows as the book progresses, Phillips’s ability to hold his readers’ rapt attention is nothing short of extraordinary. A fascinating main character and an even more riveting writing style makes Long Slow Distance a worthy piece of literature.’
— Diane Kidman, carp(e) libris
Except where stated, all material copyright © Object Press, 2010.
