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Portis has his devotees. I remember discovering Portis' "True Grit" in an English-language library in Bangkok over a quarter-century ago. Like the previous poster, I had seen, and enjoyed, the movie, but I was overwhelmed by the novel. I also found the delightful "Norwood" in that same library; then began an odyssey to discover more writing by this 20th century successor to Mark Twain. I was disappointed in my search. Even though "Dog of the South" had been published in 1979, I had to finally track it down in a (pre-Ebay) second-hand book store in Fayetteville, Arkansas. When "Masters of Atlantis" emerged, I thought Portis was on a roll. However, it's been sixteen years since the only other book I know of, "Gringos," appeared. There have been the occasional magazine sightings in The Atlantic Monthly and Oxford American, but, otherwise, bupkus. Every word this man writes is pure gold, and all his fans can do is hope for at least one last novel before this genuine original joins Rooster and Mattie in the great beyond. Or in Chiapas.
