A Legend of Good Men: A Short Story from Legend of a Suicide

In semiautobiographical stories set largely in David Vann's native Alaska, Legend of a Suicide follows Roy Fenn from his birth on an island at the edge of the Bering Sea to his return thirty years later to confront the turbulent emotions and complex legacy of his father's suicide.

The collection moves south to California, where thirteen-year-old Roy Fenn watches his mother cycle through suitors, from a calm police officer to an intrusive neighbor. Vann exposes the false starts of a family remaking itself around sudden loss.

Sonoma County becomes the setting as the author follows the boy's nights with his late father's guns, shooting out streetlights. The narrative records the gunfire and broken glass that mark his private reckoning.

• Coming of Age: Thirteen-year-old Roy hurtles through Sonoma vineyards at high speed in a patrolman's pickup truck, looking for a father figure among his mother's shifting partners.
• Small Town Setting: Quiet suburban streets turn surreal as a boy catalogs an unlocked house next door and sights a high-powered rifle through his bathroom window.
• Family Life: Domestic routine becomes an elaborate performance of travel slides and short-lived courtships, punctuated by suitors sleeping in hallway closets.
• Also by This Author: Caribou Island, Goat Mountain and Dirt.