Blog Archives
I Was Inspired by Nature
Rooster follows a field trialer, young handlers, and a dog as they navigate the world of American bird dog field trials, where loyalty, cruelty, hope, and grudges shape what it means to believe in one another. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
The inspiration, as told in the begining of the story, was Rooster, the yellow eyed, floppy eared, orange “mongrel breed” of a pointing dog that wanted to play along with the English Pointers and English Setters in that cowboy sport of the American Horse Back Field Trial. As Sparky explains in Part One, Chapter Five, it is the dharma of the pointing dog. I was inspired by nature, and then, as Sparky further explains, karma took over from there.
Rooster is an underdog in a world that values pedigree. What did you want his journey to represent?
I wanted Rooster to represent the lyrics of the theme song, the leitmotif of the story, that the trails we ride over mountains and hills, across rivers and streams are made of hopes and dreams.
How did you decide how much realism and how much folklore or animal fantasy to weave into the story?
Well, Rooster and Sparky are real. Yet, they are, like any dog owner will tell you, magical. The best way to convey both that reality and that magic is through the fable. Every fable contains a bit of truth, a slice of reality. While dogs and their companionship, especially as teammates in sport, are magical, you need to portray that reality in order to fully portray that magic. I also did want to tell people about the sport of the American Horseback Field trial. It is a little known slice of Americana, a relection of American values of competitive good sportsmanship, that is worth talking about.
The book explores both the beauty and harshness of field trialing. Was it important for you to show both sides?
Yes. A fable has to have its adversities, the conflicts or struggles that the moral of the fable overcomes in the end. Like Amy tells Mike at the barn in Part Three, Chapter “There are two sides to the business of training and running field trial dogs. There’s the reality, which can be black and white, and sometimess even a dark gray like storm clouds, and then there’s the fantasy. The fantasy isn’t so much make believe, as it is what you want to believe.” The moral of the Rooster fable is to believe in your hopes and dreams.
Author Links: Roosterafable.com | Facebook
There is the teenaged Michael, a novice who, with Tom’s niece Amy, shares Tom’s dreams in a sport where the competition can be conspiratorial and snarling. And, then, there is Rooster, the flop eared, yellow-eyed “mongrel breed” with just enough heart to make a fanciful dream come true.
But, in their way is Red Eyes, a devil of a dog, a gun slinger dog in a cowboy kind of game. And, there are the men that made him that way, Buck Arness and Tall Charlie Hinkle, recognizable by their wiry frames and ashen skin, by the dirt beneath their fingernails.
Not above sabotage, inclined to wait in ambuscade, they are coming east to the Nationals, coming east to best Tom and Mike and Rooster.
Rooster: A Field Trial Fable
Rooster by Edward Pontacoloni is a sporting fiction novel with a strong thread of animal fantasy woven through it. The story follows Tom Quinn, a lifelong field trialer, and later young Mike, Amy, and the orange, floppy-eared dog Rooster, as they move through the competitive world of American bird dog field trials. It is about dogs, yes, but also about loyalty, cruelty, hope, old grudges, and the strange magic that can gather around people and animals who believe in one another.
I was pulled in by how much this book cares about its world. Pontacoloni writes field trialing not as a hobby on the edge of the story, but as the story’s soil. The rules, the horses, the handlers, the dogs on point, the talk of bloodlines and training, all of it feels lived in. At times, that detail slows the pace, but I didn’t mind it as much. It gave the book texture. I felt like I was being invited onto the grounds by someone who knew every rut in the trail and every old argument around the campfire.
The author’s biggest choice, and probably the one readers will either embrace or resist, is the blend of realism and fable. One moment the book is candid about the harshness of the field trial world, including culling, sabotage, pride, and rough men with rough methods. The next, it opens the door to pookas, talking dogs, and the idea that belief can bend the shape of what is possible. I found that mix oddly fitting. Dogs already make people a little more willing to believe in wonder. Rooster, as a character, earns that wonder because he is not presented as perfect. He’s a “mongrel breed” in a world that prizes pedigree, and that makes his rise feel both funny and quietly moving.
I would recommend Rooster most to readers who enjoy animal stories, dog books, sporting fiction, and gentle fantasy with an old-fashioned storytelling voice. It will especially appeal to anyone who has loved a dog and suspected, even once, that the dog understood more than it let on. Readers who like reflective, affectionate stories with heart, history, and a touch of folklore will find a lot to enjoy here.
Pages: 183 | ASIN: B01G686MHO
The Wonders of the Adirondacks
A Postcard From the Adirondacks follows a man who embarks on a strange Adirondack adventure where journalism, folklore, philosophy, and canine loyalty collide. Where did the idea for this novel come from?
The novel began with the experience of canine companionship amidst the wonders of the Adirondacks, both real and as imagined. It is a place where you do talk with your dog and where the sasquatch exists. Both things being matters of belief, like any religion. The novel purports to be true fiction, and makes an effort to explain to the reader the foundations for such truth, and a reason to believe.
The novel blends adventure, satire, folklore, philosophy, and fantasy. Did you always envision it as a genre-crossing story?
Yes. The truth of fiction is the truth of imagination, and that blending of literaturary styles is the source of that truth. That is why you often hear it said that the truth is stranger than fiction.
Why do you think the bond between humans and dogs is so powerful in literature and life?
The simple, scientific answer is oxytocin. As explained in the chapter that discusses the domestication of dogs, oxytocin functions as a neurotransmitter. It modifies neural circuits to increase feelings of trust, empathy, and social connection. Those things are what the relationship between humans and dogs is all about, especially to the extent that they embody affection. Snuggle with a puppy and experience that symbiotic relationship. You will be glad that you did.
If readers could carry away one idea from the novel, what would you most hope it would be?
To keep on believing in the world of imagination.
