John M. Williams

A band's struggle to succeed and its members' struggle for self

A novel of both self-realization and self-destruction, John Williams's Lake Moon is the story of a band and its young members in their quest for recognition and fulfillment. Set primarily in the moral and social turmoil of the 1960s and ‘70s in Georgia, the novel depicts the characters' struggle against self-doubt, naivete, and addiction in their pursuit of the inescapable calling of music. This is also the story of the relationship between music and musician, between youth and belonging, between commerce and art, between self-loathing and self-awareness.

Like the music it captures, it moves its audience with an aching, lyrical quality. In reading Lake Moon, one is continually reminded of song as the novel draws the audience in, its notes, both low and high, echoing across an emotional landscape. With dialogue so convincing that it feels like eavesdropping, the novel paints a picture of regret and longing and of the unchartable and convoluted paths life can take without our being aware of it. Williams has created a world where, as Langston Hughes once wrote, "if people suffered, they suffered in beautiful language."

This novel's desolate and stirring beauty will resound within its audience long after the final chord, leaving nothing untouched and nothing unmoved.

John M. Williams (Ph.D. Georgia State University) is an associate professor of English at LaGrange College in Georgia. He lives in LaGrange with his wife Erin, son Martin, and daughter Ellie.

Generations: Stories

It May Not Leave A Scar

Thomas Jeffrey Vasseur

read an excerpt at
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