Cheerleaders from Gomorrah: Tales from the Lycra Archipelago

by John Rember

Above all else, the characters in John Rember's second book of stories value hedonism, physical beauty, and athletic prowess. They attempt to ski, run, bicycle, ride, dance, and copulate their way to salvation. But readers of the Old Testament and The Book of Morman will also recognize that Rember's people live in places watched over by an unforgiving God, a God unamused by humankind's pretentious claims to Eden in the Post-Ironic Recreational West. And yet, despite their comic insistence upon looking for redemption in all the wrong places, Rember's characters also earn delicate, glittering, impossible moments of joy and grace.

Genres: Fiction

125 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1993

About the author

John Rember lives and writes in the Sawtooth Valley of Idaho. Recurring themes in his writing include the meaning of place, the impact of tourism on the West, and the eventual impossibility of industrial civilization.

John's latest work, Journal of the Plague Years, is a three-volume series of personal journal entries written during and after the Covid-19 pandemic. His book, A Hundred Little Pieces on the End of the World, is a meditation on teaching, writing, and friendship in an increasingly fragile world. MFA in a Box: A Why to Write Book was recognized by the Nautilus Awards, Hoffer Awards, and Midwest Book Awards as one of the best new books on creative writing. His memoir Traplines: Coming Home to Sawtooth Valley was named Idaho Book of the Year by the Idaho Library Association. He is also author of three short story collections: Sudden Death, Over Time; Cheerleaders from Gomorrah: Tales from the Lycra Archipelago; and Coyote in the Mountains.

John has written numerous articles, stories, and essays for publications ranging from Travel and Leisure to Wildlife Conservation to High Desert Journal to The Huffington Post. He taught for many years at The College of Idaho in Caldwell and in the Pacific University MFA program in Forest Grove, Oregon.

Reviews

[K]

Read a while ago & remember I loved its quirkiness. Recommended to several of my friends. Some read, some didn’t