Free set of Charles Portis books!

To celebrate today's release of the True Grit DVD, Overlook Press is giving away three sets of the entire Charles Portisbacklist: True Grit, Norwood, Gringos, Masters of Atlantis, and The Dog of the South.

The three sets will be given to commentators on this blog, on facebook and on twitter.



True Grit has been back in the news recently, mentioned in the Wall Street Journal and the Southern Literary Review. As SLR notes, Portis' works are also an excellent idea for a Father's Day gift for a dad who loves to read.

To whet your appetite, here's a taste of each novel:

True Grit, Portis's famous novel was first published in 1968 and became the basis for two films, the 1969 classic starting John Wayne and 2010's new version starring Academy Award winner Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon. True Grit tells the story of fourteen year old Mattie Ross as she leaves home to avenge her father's death. With one-eyed Rooster Cogburn, the meanest available U.S. Marshall at her side, Mattie pursues the killer into Indian Territory.

Norwood, the first novel by the long-acclaimed author establishes his unique wit and cool yet funny style. Out of the Neon Desert of RollarDromes comes ex-marine and troubadour Pratt sent on a mission to New York. By the time he returns home to Ralph, Texas, Norwood has met his true love, Rita Lee, on a Trailway bus; befriended Edmund B. Ratner, the second shortest midget in show business; and helped Joann, “the chicken with a college education,” realize her true potential in life.

The Dog of the South is the story of Ray Midge as he tracks his wife Norma--who has run off with her first husband-- by following credit card receipts (his credit card!). As Midge chases Norma from Arkansas down to Mexico, and into Honduras, Portis spins an extraordinary novel of deep longing paired with comic eloquence.

Masters of Atlantis is a novel stationed in France in 1917 centering Lamar Jimmerson, leader of the modern-day Gnomon Society, who comes across a little book crammed with Atlantean puzzles, Egyptian riddles, and extended alchemical metaphors, the Codex Pappus said to be the sacred Gnomonic text. Portis opens up a world of misfits, con men, and innocents.

Gringos is about the life of Jimmy Burns, an expatriate living in Mexico and unearthing pre-Columbian artifacts. Jimmy's laid back life is threatened when a ninety-pound stalker named Louise suddenly appears, along with a wave of hippies led by a murderous ex-con guru, archaeologists illegally unearthing the Mayan tombs and Louise's husband's quest for UFO landing sites. Charles Portis' talent and astute eye for the absurd detail has made him one of America's foremost writers.


Charles Portis was the London Bureau chief of the New York Herald-Tribune, and was a writer for The New Yorker. All of his novels have been published by Overlook Press.


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