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Haji's Exile
Nathan has cared for horses all his life, but Haji is the first he’ll train on his own. When the Arabian stallion arrives at Bitter Coffee Ranch, Nathan thinks he is the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen. And then he lays eyes on Haji’s handler, Yousef. Nathan has much to learn about horses, about pride, and about love, but with the ranch’s hopes riding on Haji, he’ll also learn that all things have their price.
33 pages, ebook
First published July 6, 2011
50 people want to read
About the author
Alan Chin
12 books97 followersAlan Chin was born in Ogden, Utah, where he was christened, Alan Lewis Hurlburt. He was raised in San Jose, California where he enjoyed an undistinguished childhood. After graduating high school, Alan served four years in the U.S. Navy where he learned and practiced the trade of aircraft mechanic while stationed at the naval air station in Kingsville, Texas.
Alan attended four years of night school at San Francisco State University, studying the field of Data Processing. Afterwards he enjoyed a twenty year career working his way from computer programmer, to software engineer, to network designer, and finally to manager of several software engineer development groups.
In 1991, while still working full time, Alan went back to night school and years later graduated from the University of San Francisco with a BS in Economics and a Masters in Creative Writing.
In 1999, Alan retired from his career in Information Technology to devote more time to his three hobbies: writing, traveling, and tennis. During that same timeframe, Alan legally changed his name to Alan Chin, so that he could share the same family name as his life partner, Herman Chin.
Alan turned serious about his writing in 2003, and began working on his first novel, Island Song. He has now published two novel with Zumaya Publications - Island Song and The Lonely War. He is currently searching for a publisher fr his 3rd novel, while writing a 4th novel and two screenplays.
Alan currently lives and writes half of each year at his home in San Rafael, California, and he spends the other half of each year traveling the globe.
You can learn more about Alan Chin and his writing at: http://AlanChinWriter.blogspot.com or about his travels at his travel blog: http://HermanAndAlan.blogspot.com
Alan attended four years of night school at San Francisco State University, studying the field of Data Processing. Afterwards he enjoyed a twenty year career working his way from computer programmer, to software engineer, to network designer, and finally to manager of several software engineer development groups.
In 1991, while still working full time, Alan went back to night school and years later graduated from the University of San Francisco with a BS in Economics and a Masters in Creative Writing.
In 1999, Alan retired from his career in Information Technology to devote more time to his three hobbies: writing, traveling, and tennis. During that same timeframe, Alan legally changed his name to Alan Chin, so that he could share the same family name as his life partner, Herman Chin.
Alan turned serious about his writing in 2003, and began working on his first novel, Island Song. He has now published two novel with Zumaya Publications - Island Song and The Lonely War. He is currently searching for a publisher fr his 3rd novel, while writing a 4th novel and two screenplays.
Alan currently lives and writes half of each year at his home in San Rafael, California, and he spends the other half of each year traveling the globe.
You can learn more about Alan Chin and his writing at: http://AlanChinWriter.blogspot.com or about his travels at his travel blog: http://HermanAndAlan.blogspot.com
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 23, 2011
4.75 stars (rounded up)
Original review posted at Reviews by Jessewave.
I've long been a fan of Alan Chin's. His words seem to melt of the page and flow through me as I'm reading. His prose is often decadently smooth, with a rolling gait. So it is in his latest story, and aptly, as the story deals with the training of a particularly proud and regal horse.
Nathan is a recent high school graduate who, after falling on hard times, is taking the pace of his father's foreman and taking over the training of the family's race horses. The story begins as he sees their newest buy arrive on the ranch -- Haji. The beautiful sorrel is from North Africa and brings with him a stable boy, Yousef. Both are thrilling and exotic to Nathan, and as he grows into his responsibilities and his own awareness of his life, so do both of them grow with him, one on the track and one in his bed and as his newfound love. Add to that the harshness of life in Nevada and the racial inequality of the time (which is unmentioned, but could be recent historical or contemporary), and the situation becomes somewhat complicated.
The best part of this story is the beautiful prose. Alan Chin has a way of matching the prose to the story and here I often found the prose very musical, with a tempo that matched whatever action the horse is making at that time in the story -- a rolling gait, or the ferocious pounding beats of stampeding horses. Also, I found that the most interesting character of any in the story was in fact the horse, Haji. His story is a parallel to Yousef's. Though we know very little about Yousef (as does Nathan), we can understand him because Nathan understands horses more than people, and as such can understand Haji. He brings together the two characters, and in the end brings about their separation (you know I won't say more than that, but it is a Bittersweet Dreams title).
"A lovely horse is always an emotional experience for me, the kind that is spoiled by words. All my life I have often talked about horses -- hell, most of the time I seem to talk of nothing else -- but I have never been able to unravel my love of them using the commonplace adjectives of my limited vocabulary. To me they are a beautiful dream, to be admired but not scrutinized, lest they disappear before I can voice the words."
This is a story of young love, the period that is on the cusp of true adulthood, where your awareness of the world tilts to such an alarming degree. Many things can bring that change about and here it is the awakening of love for another man after Nathan's whole childhood purely spend on his love of horses. They help him understand the change in his life, and through them they also help him see his naivete when he feels that first sting and the first touch of the coldness in the world.
More than anything, though, this story is really about the love of animals, and how they can define and explain the things in our lives, or help us change them:
"I believe with all my fiber that until a man has loved an animal, a large part of his soul remains unawakened."
The Bittersweet Dreams titles from Dreamspinner are certainly not for everyone, and this story won't be either. I won't deny that the ending made me quite sad, but I'm also a realist, and I think that Alan Chin does a wonderful job with this story in portraying the shift between the idealistic adolescent and the reasoning adult. At the same time, the story is beautifully written and offers much more than the ending of a love affair. Definitely recommended.
Original review posted at Reviews by Jessewave.
I've long been a fan of Alan Chin's. His words seem to melt of the page and flow through me as I'm reading. His prose is often decadently smooth, with a rolling gait. So it is in his latest story, and aptly, as the story deals with the training of a particularly proud and regal horse.
Nathan is a recent high school graduate who, after falling on hard times, is taking the pace of his father's foreman and taking over the training of the family's race horses. The story begins as he sees their newest buy arrive on the ranch -- Haji. The beautiful sorrel is from North Africa and brings with him a stable boy, Yousef. Both are thrilling and exotic to Nathan, and as he grows into his responsibilities and his own awareness of his life, so do both of them grow with him, one on the track and one in his bed and as his newfound love. Add to that the harshness of life in Nevada and the racial inequality of the time (which is unmentioned, but could be recent historical or contemporary), and the situation becomes somewhat complicated.
The best part of this story is the beautiful prose. Alan Chin has a way of matching the prose to the story and here I often found the prose very musical, with a tempo that matched whatever action the horse is making at that time in the story -- a rolling gait, or the ferocious pounding beats of stampeding horses. Also, I found that the most interesting character of any in the story was in fact the horse, Haji. His story is a parallel to Yousef's. Though we know very little about Yousef (as does Nathan), we can understand him because Nathan understands horses more than people, and as such can understand Haji. He brings together the two characters, and in the end brings about their separation (you know I won't say more than that, but it is a Bittersweet Dreams title).
"A lovely horse is always an emotional experience for me, the kind that is spoiled by words. All my life I have often talked about horses -- hell, most of the time I seem to talk of nothing else -- but I have never been able to unravel my love of them using the commonplace adjectives of my limited vocabulary. To me they are a beautiful dream, to be admired but not scrutinized, lest they disappear before I can voice the words."
This is a story of young love, the period that is on the cusp of true adulthood, where your awareness of the world tilts to such an alarming degree. Many things can bring that change about and here it is the awakening of love for another man after Nathan's whole childhood purely spend on his love of horses. They help him understand the change in his life, and through them they also help him see his naivete when he feels that first sting and the first touch of the coldness in the world.
More than anything, though, this story is really about the love of animals, and how they can define and explain the things in our lives, or help us change them:
"I believe with all my fiber that until a man has loved an animal, a large part of his soul remains unawakened."
The Bittersweet Dreams titles from Dreamspinner are certainly not for everyone, and this story won't be either. I won't deny that the ending made me quite sad, but I'm also a realist, and I think that Alan Chin does a wonderful job with this story in portraying the shift between the idealistic adolescent and the reasoning adult. At the same time, the story is beautifully written and offers much more than the ending of a love affair. Definitely recommended.
July 7, 2011
4.5 stars
Both the horse Haji and his handler, Yousef are the most exotic things Nathan has ever seen, and both teach him something about himself, and life in general. Told in retrospective from Nathan's old age, this short story is brimming with wonderfully drawn word pictures. Set before the background of a horse ranch, it transports a precise sense of place and atmosphere. Nathan, the first person narrator, comes vividly alive on the pages while Yousef always remains what he turns out to be to Nathan, a stranger with foreign habits and barely understandable demeanour. A melancholic, sad glimpse at a few, yet obviously forming weeks in the life of a young man. Recommended.
(DSP Bittersweet Line: no traditional HEA)
Both the horse Haji and his handler, Yousef are the most exotic things Nathan has ever seen, and both teach him something about himself, and life in general. Told in retrospective from Nathan's old age, this short story is brimming with wonderfully drawn word pictures. Set before the background of a horse ranch, it transports a precise sense of place and atmosphere. Nathan, the first person narrator, comes vividly alive on the pages while Yousef always remains what he turns out to be to Nathan, a stranger with foreign habits and barely understandable demeanour. A melancholic, sad glimpse at a few, yet obviously forming weeks in the life of a young man. Recommended.
(DSP Bittersweet Line: no traditional HEA)
July 23, 2011
Chin once again breathes beauty into his words.
May 28, 2016
from St. Therese - more tears are shed over answered prayer than unanswered ones.
I was a bit stunned by that ending and was screaming internally about the whole unfairness of it!
I was a bit stunned by that ending and was screaming internally about the whole unfairness of it!
August 29, 2011
Haji is a beautiful 3-year old colt (called stallion here) which Nathan’s father has bought from North Africa to race. Haji’s handler, Yousef is beautiful too, and Nathan finds him so.
When Haji’s handler creeps into Nathan’s room and sex happens, it was rather a surprise. The two of them had hardly spoken (Yousef has hardly any English) and the only leering had been from Nathan’s direction towards Yousef, and he’d only been on the racing stable for a couple of days. It did seem a little bit of a risk, seeing Nathan was the boss’s son. But considering what Yousef does every morning after sex, perhaps that’s not surprising. I wasn’t very keen on this device, it was never explained and doesn’t give a good picture of Yousef at all.
The trouble I had with the book was my deep knowledge of horse husbandry. If you want to make me like your protagonist, then do not have them smashing a 3 year old Arabian colt in the muzzle twice, as hard as you possibly can with a riding crop, and have the man who dedicates his life to that horse just stand by and watch.
It was hard to take off my “horse” head and be objective after that, it really shocked me, even in the 1950′s–if one has been raised around horses, particularly sensitive, hugely expensive racing stock one doesn’t do that. You should never hit a horse in the head, anyway–granted the horse bit him, but the easiest way to deal with a biter is to bite him back–because that’s what they do to each other for punishment.
Another equine quibble before I shut up about it – Haji has damaged tendons, and this is the equivalent of a sprained ankle, it means rest, ice and compression–and he was being ridden regularly. That kind of injury is a horse owner’s nightmare as it takes weeks or months to recover fully–if the horse even does. The horse’s fitness is still much in doubt when it is run on the track, and that shows no love for the horse, merely the want of winning.
OK – that aside, this book is exquisitely written in parts, some of the description is quite breathtakingly beautiful, if a little self-conscious, because it’s just done in parts, jumping from very beautiful prose to work-a-day prose and then back again. This is definitely a good book to start with to get a feel of Chin’s style, although he does seem to be improving with every book.
The racetrack section is well done, you get a feeling of tension and race of course is exciting in the way that all horse races are, but Nathan once more didn’t win any prizes for behaving like a baby and risking his, Haji’s and Yousef’s life.
There were a couple of jarring homonyms: metal/mettle, bail/bale, a bit too much for such a small book which should have been spotted.
It’s short–only 3o pages or so, but worth the money for the sheer beauty of much of the prose. I can’t award it five stars simply because I loathed both protagonists and was given no reason to forgive Nathan particularly as he cared far more for sex and Yousef than for the horses, and I found the ending a little odd, along the lines of Outer Limits or Tales of the Unexpected– the whole thing didn’t really gel together for me.
When Haji’s handler creeps into Nathan’s room and sex happens, it was rather a surprise. The two of them had hardly spoken (Yousef has hardly any English) and the only leering had been from Nathan’s direction towards Yousef, and he’d only been on the racing stable for a couple of days. It did seem a little bit of a risk, seeing Nathan was the boss’s son. But considering what Yousef does every morning after sex, perhaps that’s not surprising. I wasn’t very keen on this device, it was never explained and doesn’t give a good picture of Yousef at all.
The trouble I had with the book was my deep knowledge of horse husbandry. If you want to make me like your protagonist, then do not have them smashing a 3 year old Arabian colt in the muzzle twice, as hard as you possibly can with a riding crop, and have the man who dedicates his life to that horse just stand by and watch.
It was hard to take off my “horse” head and be objective after that, it really shocked me, even in the 1950′s–if one has been raised around horses, particularly sensitive, hugely expensive racing stock one doesn’t do that. You should never hit a horse in the head, anyway–granted the horse bit him, but the easiest way to deal with a biter is to bite him back–because that’s what they do to each other for punishment.
Another equine quibble before I shut up about it – Haji has damaged tendons, and this is the equivalent of a sprained ankle, it means rest, ice and compression–and he was being ridden regularly. That kind of injury is a horse owner’s nightmare as it takes weeks or months to recover fully–if the horse even does. The horse’s fitness is still much in doubt when it is run on the track, and that shows no love for the horse, merely the want of winning.
OK – that aside, this book is exquisitely written in parts, some of the description is quite breathtakingly beautiful, if a little self-conscious, because it’s just done in parts, jumping from very beautiful prose to work-a-day prose and then back again. This is definitely a good book to start with to get a feel of Chin’s style, although he does seem to be improving with every book.
The racetrack section is well done, you get a feeling of tension and race of course is exciting in the way that all horse races are, but Nathan once more didn’t win any prizes for behaving like a baby and risking his, Haji’s and Yousef’s life.
There were a couple of jarring homonyms: metal/mettle, bail/bale, a bit too much for such a small book which should have been spotted.
It’s short–only 3o pages or so, but worth the money for the sheer beauty of much of the prose. I can’t award it five stars simply because I loathed both protagonists and was given no reason to forgive Nathan particularly as he cared far more for sex and Yousef than for the horses, and I found the ending a little odd, along the lines of Outer Limits or Tales of the Unexpected– the whole thing didn’t really gel together for me.
February 1, 2013
Two things made me really didn't like this book.
As a person that love and have horses, I can say that I would never let Nathan near my horses not even to clear their stall, worst of all traine one of them - and for a person that cared for horses all his life, for me it seemed that he had never even touched a horse...
Regarding Nathan and Yousef, I didn't feel any chemistry and realy didn't like the ending of the book...
so, sorry by the low rating, but It didn't work for me.
As a person that love and have horses, I can say that I would never let Nathan near my horses not even to clear their stall, worst of all traine one of them - and for a person that cared for horses all his life, for me it seemed that he had never even touched a horse...
Regarding Nathan and Yousef, I didn't feel any chemistry and realy didn't like the ending of the book...
so, sorry by the low rating, but It didn't work for me.
January 2, 2012
Lovely short story of a young man falling in love with an exotic horse and his handler. I always hate it when I realize it's a Bittersweet Dream series story and I won't get an HEA. But this time, I wasn't disappointed. The story is so beautifully written, so poignant and so full of tender feelings that I didn't feel cheated at the end. It felt just right.
August 26, 2011
I, of course, love this story. But then, I wrote it.
December 29, 2011
Harsh story and ironic, too. I didn't really understand why did Yousef go to Nathan, but sometimes I guess when you're alone, you want to be hold.
August 14, 2016
Beautifully written, as always!
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews