Nickolas Butler

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Andrea Paulseth

Nickolas Butler

media release: Addressing timeless themes of The American Dream, friendship, loyalty, duty, Godspeed by Nickolas Butler, acclaimed author of Shotgun Lovesongs, balances sophisticated, beautiful prose with a page-turning, suspenseful plot.  Set in the stunning mountains of Wyoming, this is also new brand of Western. A 21st-century morality tale where the rugged landscape is as much a character as the uber-wealthy newcomers to Jackson Hole and the hardscrabble locals, hanging on, any which way they can.

Why is it being built here, and why so quickly? These are the questions Cole, Bart, and Teddy, the three principals of True Triangle Construction, ask themselves when they are hired to finish a project for a mysteriously wealthy homeowner. Nestled in the mountains outside of Jackson, Wyoming, the house is a masterpiece, unlike anything they’ve done before. Once finished, it promises to be the architectural prize of Jackson and could put True Triangle on the map. But despite the project’s lure, the owner is intent on having it built in a matter of months, an impossible task made irresistible by the exorbitant bonus that awaits them if they succeed. A bonus that could change the course of their business, and their lives. Up against the fateful deadline, and the looming threat of a harsh Wyoming winter, Cole, Bart, and Teddy are willing to do anything to get the money, even if it means risking life, limb, and family. And what becomes an obsession for all three quickly builds to tragic consequences for some. Struck through with heart-pounding danger and an arresting lyricism, Godspeed is a stark exploration of the haves and the have-nots, a cautionary tale of greed and violence that asks: How much is never enough?

Godspeed is an incisive portrait of working-class life, the meth epidemic, and the many stratified realities of this one America we all live in, separately. To capture the breakneck pace, exhaustion, and tension of the story, Butler put himself on the same deadline as his characters – forcing himself however he could to pull a crushing string of all-nighters in an attempt to see if he could actually finish this book in three or four months. The result is a novel filled with heart-pounding danger and arresting lyricism that moves like a shot. Godspeed is a cautionary tale of greed and violence that asks: How much is never enough?

Nickolas Butler was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and raised in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin–Madison as well as the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and the author of the novel The Hearts of Men, the internationally bestselling and prizewinning novel Shotgun Lovesongs, and the acclaimed short story collection Beneath the Bonfire. He lives in Wisconsin with his wife and their two children.

The Wisconsin Book Festival is presented by Madison Public Library in partnership with Madison Public Library Foundation. For program details and the full schedule, go to wisconsinbookfestival.org.

The festival is funded with generous support from Signature Sponsor Marvin J. Levy; Presenting Sponsor Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation; Festival Patron Cheryl Rosen Weston Estate; Festival Sponsors National Endowment forthe Arts and American Girl’s Fund for Children; Contributing Sponsors The Bass Family, Friends of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries, Great Dane Pub & Brewing Co., MG&E Foundation and University Research

Park; Media Sponsors The Capital Times & Wisconsin State Journal, Isthmus, Madison365 and Wisconsin Public Radio; In-Kind Sponsors KennedyC and the Park Hotel; and Event Supporter A Room of One’s Own. Learn more about funding and support for the festival at wisconsinbookfestival.org/give.