World Out There

The World Out There is set in Gainesville, FL during the early nineteen-nineties and its North-Central Florida setting is important as both physical and psychological space. In addition to Spanish moss, heat-radiating highways, and palmettos, the novel explores the violence beneath the glittering surface of the "e;Sunshine State"e;: racial tensions, neofascist violence against "e;others,"e; and a string of serial murders acts as an ominous backdrop for the action. The car wreck into Lake Walters, coming within the first pages, is a catalyst for action-the concentric waves radiating from the car dropping through that lake surface like danger reverberating throughout the book. The story follows the lives of three people-Jan, William, and Ray-with the action centered around a used bookstore. Each of these Gen-Xers came to Gainesville to get college degrees and then never left. Each watches his or her grandiose ideas of "e;success"e; drift away as they pass through their thirties, replaced with a vagueness of purpose, a nagging anxiety that there is something else they're supposed to be doing.