The Distance to the End
by Michael Aaron Casares
Serasac Press
reviewed by Yuliya Geikhman
"We were creatures of the moment. We were high on life in ways some would never understand."
Four former drug users return to Las Vegas to celebrate a substantial lottery win. What could possibly go wrong? Nicholas Duke is drinking the moment in. For him, life is perfect. He has his estranged boyfriend, Raoul, back in his life, and his two best friends, Neville and Gladys, are around to partake in some nostalgic activities. The four are living the high life of limos, private planes, and lots and lots of drugs. None of them seem to realize that a lot can happen in just one short trip, especially when your destination is the city of vices.
In fact, vices are a central theme in the friends' adventures. Despite their mixed backgrounds, Nick and his friends all equally partake in an impressive number of mind-altering substances. They stumble around Las Vegas, fueled by a drug and sex high. The reader is taken along on a ride that starts at a crawl but quickly escalates into a full run. The book reads like a mind-bending dream, seen through Nick's hazy perception of the world. Between trips (both literal and figurative), Nick ponders the nature of Las Vegas, vices, life and death, and even God. Nick's relationships with Raoul and others around him are also on display here, revealing how even the strongest bonds between people can become fleeting in an instant.
The Distance to the End reads like a beginning to a grand adventure in life. It leaves many questions unanswered, but shows promise for future entries about Nick and Raoul.
Title: The Distance to the End
Author: Michael Aaron Casares
Publisher: Serasac Press
Genre: Gay Literary Fiction
Pages: 156
Edition: First Paperback
Word Count: 46k
ISBN: :978-0692667835
Price: $14.95
Release Date:: June 28, 2016
Distribution: Ingram, Baker & Taylor, Amazon, B&N, etc.
Summary: Reunited with his estranged lover, Raoul, poet, Nicholas Duke has been invited for a celebratory weekend in Las Vegas with his friends Neville and Gladys Acosta. Recently acquiring a large sum of money, Neville wastes no time obtaining the finer things in life. In the true nouveau riche fashion, they book limos, lavish suites, drinking, and enjoying the pleasantries easy access to their personal desires grants. There are under currents stirring though, as Nick deals with Raoul’s new found love for drugs and excess while trying to control his own attraction to vice. Even Gladys and Neville have a history with illicit substances, and soon all four must find their way through Vegas riding the high of the new American dream: fast fortune and faster living, while gambling against all odds. First in a series of Nicholas Duke novels, The Distance to the End is fast-paced, stimulant-enhanced, literary pop fiction fans of early Burroughs (Junkie/Queer) or Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas would enjoy.
Press Clippings:
“The Distance to the End reads like the beginning to a grand adventure…” – The US Review of Books
"The Distance To The End shines in a revealing, passionate read that takes the glitzy impersonal backdrops of Vegas, sex, and relationships and elevates them to new levels..." - The Midwest Book Review
Author Bio: Michael Aaron Casares is the author of This Reality of Man (2011, LT Press). He owns and operates Virgogray Press, and is the editor of Carcinogenic Poetry, an online poetry journal.
