Onyx reviews: From Sea to Stormy Sea: 17 Stories Inspired by Great American Paintings edited by Lawrence Block

Reviewed by Bev Vincent, 06/06/2019

From Sea to Stormy Sea is Block's third outing as an editor of an anthology inspired by works of art. In his first, In Sunlight or in Shadow, the art was by Edward Hopper. In his follow-up, Alive in Shape and Color, he left the selection of the works of art up to his contributors. This time, Block pre-selected thirty paintings by artists working in America and allowed his contributors to choose from those.

Block's selections cover a wide range of styles and eras, from classical to abstract. The paintings in his short list come from well-known artists like Andy Warhol, Winslow Homer, Mark Rothko, Piet Mondrian, Grant Wood and Roy Lichtenstein, and some perhaps lesser-known artists: Harvey Dunn, Rockwell Kent, Helen Frankenthaler, Robert Henri, John Hull, George Bellows, Warren S. Moore, Jr., Daniel Morper, John Steuart Curry, Reginald Marsh, Thomas Hart Benton and Raphael Soyer

The authors include household names like Sara Paretsky, John Sandford, Barry N. Malzberg and Block himself, along with Patti Abbott, Charles Ardai, Jan Burke, Jerome Charyn, Brendan DuBois, Janice Eidus, Christa Faust, Scott Frank, Tom Franklin, Jane Hamilton, Warren Moore, Micah Nathan, Gary Phillips. Rather than dither over the "proper" order in which to present the stories, Block includes them in alphabetic order based on the author's last name...except for his own tale, which appears at the end.

The stories cover a range of styles and eras. Some are period pieces set in the 1800s, while others are contemporary. The manner in which the authors were inspired varies, too. The visual image is used in some cases, whereas in others the actual work of art forms part of the story. Several of the stories are noir or crime, while others flirt with different genres. "The Man from Hard Rock Mountain" by Jerome Charyn is a post-apocalyptic horror story with cannibals. Inspired by a work by his father, Warren Moore contributed a story about a man whose father was also a painter. Block concocted a somewhat metafictional story in which the main characters, after viewing "Office Girls" by Raphael Soyer, embark on a burgeoning romance that they compare to the creation of a short story. Sandford's "Girl with an Ax" is about a session guitar player who is called upon to assist the clean-up when her elderly next door neighbor passes away. There are rogues aplenty, including the young man on the train in Micah Nathan's "Get Him," the thief known as the Satin Fox in Gary Phillips' "A Matter of Options" and the hitchhiker and her ride in "Garnets" by Christa Faust.

For his third art-inspired anthology, Block went to a different well of writers than in his previous two collections, for the most part. The anthology is not only a showcase for seventeen authors—an opportunity for readers to sample works from writers with whom they may not be familiar—it is also a showcase for as many artists, a number of whom are not all that well known.