Critical Mick

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Confederate Nation: Special Appearance by Elvis Presley
Michael Loyd Gray
iUniverse, 2005

I Wish I Were in the Land of Cotton!

With its big Confederate colors across the cover and opening scene scouting the fringes of a battle in Northern Virginia, I was initially afraid that Michael Loyd Gray's debut would follow in the deep wheel ruts of countless Civil War historical novels that had covered this territory before. The vivid details describing the Battle of Monocacy- the exhausted Confederacy's July 1864 hail-mary pass of an attack on Washington- held my interest, then suddenly made me do a double-take and re-read.

One factor that makes Confederate Nation: Special Appearance by Elvis Presley truly stand out from historical novels set in the C.S.A. or alternate histories where the South won is that Michael Loyd Gray's Dixie has moved on. The Confederate States has abolished slavery more than a century before, and has also abolished the NRA and ejected Charleton Heston. Former Texas governor George W. Bush has also left the South due to its legislation against corporate rape of the environment and executives that screw over their workers. This novel celebrates a culture that Southerners can rightly take part in.

By the 1999 of the novel's opening, the United States and the Confederate States have lived side by side in peace for 135 years. They have fought side by side in both World Wars and the Asian conflicts that came after. Both nations love Elvis and watch Hollywood movies. Both have been overrun by Starbucks and Taco Bells. There is a sentiment that if the Berlin Wall could come down, perhaps it's time for these brother nations to finally set aside their differences. Confederate Nation is a story of reunification.

True, there are protests and a bomb outside the United States embassy in the Confederate capital of Washington D.C. But this novel is not the expected Tom Clancy-esque sci-fi of colourful generals and exciting charges across American landscapes, this time with mechanized cavalry. Fuck that. Gray's story is more human, more interesting, more believable and wonderfully involving. Main character Grail Hudson, an Illinois-based professor and CSA expert, journeys south to witness the reunion first-hand, and soon finds himself on the podium beside US President Bill Clinton and CS President Jimmy Carter signing the reunification bill into law as a sixty-four year old Elvis Presley sings "Love me Tender."

That's right, Elvis is out of retirement, alive, well (if a bit senile) and one of the main characters in this wonderful novel. Why? Read Mr. Gray's explanation for yourself in the sidebar accompanying our interview. Let me just say: it works. It feels good.

Grail, Elvis, and a redemption-seeking former porn star named Wad Upshot set off in "the mother of all Cadillacs, a red El Dorado convertible with white leather interior and green and yellow dice hanging from the rear view mirror" as Confederate Nation becomes a wonderful road story in search of Grail's old man. This is great stuff, careening off into new territory while making old landmarks take on new meanings. How so much fun was packed in 162 short pages I will have to re-read to find out.

There's even a redheaded love interest and a hearty Guinness drinking session right from the get-go. Class! Blokes of planet Earth, Confederate Nation is a novel for you.

What doesn't work? A few characters are introduced and then drop out of the novel without closure or explanation. So what, I say. Life itself is like that. There are also a few points left unclear, like Grail Hudson's relation to the young officer who captured Abraham Lincoln. Worse would have been if the novel was headed for the crappy, amateurish twist that I thought I saw coming at the conclusion. It didn't. Confederate Nation is crap-free.

In this first iUniverse edition there are typos galore. That's actually not a bad when seen in the light that early imperfect first-editions of classic novels are later worth a big fat bundle. Pick up a copy of Confederate Nation: Special Appearance by Elvis Presley and watch it turn into a collector's item.

And, hell, if it doesn't, I guarantee you'll have a quirky, touching, mad ride of a read in your hands. This novel is hereby nominated into the running for Critical Mick's Best Book Read in 2006 and I look forward to the appearance of Michael Loyd Gray's second novel, December's Children, when it appears.

Read Critical Mick's interview with Michael Loyd Gray!

Read an exclusive excerpt from December's Children!

Viva Las Vegas, Michael Loyd Gray!

Yo! This review and all content on the DFA Guide site are copyright 2006 Mick Halpin. All links to other sites and documents are copyright to whatever source wrote something cool enough for Mick to give it a referral. Try to claim them as your own work and bad karma will catch up with you, baby. Believe it.

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This Page Was Last Updated On 23 July, 2006.