D.U.C.K., by Poppy Z. Brite

I grew up adoring series fiction. I guess it stemmed from reading comics, but I devoured Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan and especially Doc Savage books. That love of series fiction has carried over into my adulthood, with personal favorites like Lansdale's Hap and Leonard books, F. Paul Wilson's Repairman Jack, Bill Pronzini's Nameless Detective mysteries and several of Ed Gorman's books. And, of course, Poppy Z. Brite's Rickey and G-Man/Liquor novels and stories. I make time to read all of these when a new one arrives in my mailbox.



D.U.C.K. is the new Rickey and G-Man novella out from Subterranean and it's also the first post-Katrina story in the series. As anyone that has read any of the series knows, New Orleans is the city that the stories take place in. But it's more than that. New Orleans is, to me, the real main character of them. I've never been there and perhaps I never will make it to New Orleans. But thanks to these works of fiction I feel as though I have spent time in that celebrated city. Know its smells and can taste the cuisine that it is known for. Feel the heat and see the sites on the streets. That's how vivid Poppy's descriptions of the town are.

While Katrina has nothing to do with D.U.C.K., oddly it has everything to do with it. In the beginning of the book, Chef Rickey is clocked in the head by a two-by-four wielding ex-Liquor waiter. Here's where the story turns into what is a mild fantasy to me. Rickey suffers a concussion, but it seems to better in no time and he then gets invited to host a banquet for Ducks Unlimited. The menu will consist of all wild duck courses and Rickey's childhood inspiration, ex-Saints quarterback Bobby Hebert, is to be in attendance.

D.U.C.K. is like a lyrical dream/fantasy, in which Rickey meets his childhood hero and enjoys a New Orleans of eternal happiness and beauty. Which is something I'm sure most of the city's residents would have loved to have. A wistful daydream of what could have been, had the disastrous hurricane not devastated the town. As Brite says in her Forward, writing D.U.C.K. was a healing venture for her, one that she had to get out of her system before tackling Katrina again...but this time in her fictional world of Liquor and its staff.

I don't think I'd recommend D.U.C.K. to those that haven't visited the world of Rickey and G-Man before, but those that have followed the series will love it. As it falls short of full-length novel form, it may not see the light of publication in any mass market publication, so I urge fans of the series to buy it while they can. I devoured it in one sitting and I am already salivating over the thought of another book in the series.


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