Photograph by Mark Gilliland
Kyle Beachy's new novel from Random House, The Slide, doesn't just take place in St. Louis — it bleeds it onto every page. During one summer, the narrator, Potter Mays, hits Fair St. Louis, the Arch, Sportsman's Park, Straub's, Ted Drewes and the Spirit of St. Louis Airport, among other local landing strips. Taking in a Cards-Cubs game at Busch, he notes, "Chicago's proximity made for near splits at either ballpark, the stands like some insipidly cordial Crip-Blood mixer."
"The St. Louis places in the book aren't just color or background," explains the 30-year-old author. "They're fundamental to the way the character sees the world." And though the Ladue High School grad now teaches lit classes at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, he remains a loyal St. Louisan at heart. "When I'm not in St. Louis, I feel protective of it. I'm its staunchest defender."
Publishing a fi rst novel was no easy feat for Beachy. His tale of twentysomething angst was rejected by 117 literary agents before one finally bit. All told, it was an eight-year journey from writing the first page to publication, and he's celebrating with a reading and book signing at the CWE Left Bank Books on February 5.
Of course, writing about his hometown made for some astute observations. Among them, The Slide's narrator is piqued by the strange popularity among the upper castes of custom-needlepoint belts, such as those sold at Ladue's Sign of the Arrow.
"I have found in my travels throughout the U.S.," says Beachy, "that the fascination with the needlepoint belt is a distinctive St. Louis thing."
