Bell Hammers

PRANKS. OIL. PROTEST. JOKES BETWEEN NEWLYWEDS.

AND ONE HILARIOUS SIEGE OF A MAJOR CORPORATION.

Remmy grows up with Beth in Bellhammer, Illinois as oil and coal companies rob the land of everything that made it paradise. Under his Grandad, he learns how to properly prank his neighbors, friends, and foes. Beth tries to fix Remmy by taking him to church. Under his Daddy, Remmy starts the Bell Hammer Construction Company, which depends on contracts from Texarco Oil. And Beth argues with him about how to build a better business. Together, Remmy and Beth start to build a great neighborhood of "merry men" carpenters: a paradise of s'mores, porch furniture, newborn babies, and summer trips to Branson where their boys pop the tops of off the neighborhood's two hundred soda bottles. Their witty banter builds a kind of castle among a growing nostalgia.

Then one of Jim Johnstone's faulty Texarco oil derricks falls down on their house and poisons their neighborhood's well.

Poisoned wells escalate to torched dog houses. Torched dog houses escalate to stolen carpentry tools and cancelled contracts. Cancelled contracts escalate to eminent domain. Sick of the attacks from Texaco Oil on his neighborhood, Remmy assembles his merry men:

"We need the world's greatest prank. One grand glorious jest that'll bloody the nose of that tyrant. Besides, pranks and jokes don't got no consequences, right?"

Lancelot has offered to do visits, digitally and in person, for book clubs, schools, libraries, conference, and corporate events. Email him directly at lanceschaubert@gmail.com to set up a time or a zoom meeting!

These discussion questions were provided by the publisher, DartFrog Books.

Book club questions for Bell Hammers by Lancelot Schaubert

Use these discussion questions to guide your next book club meeting.

Did you notice the framing of the symphony in the various parts? In what way is the overriding metaphor of bell hammers — and resonant frequency — a kind of symphony of all things? Related to that: did you notice the coda? The D.S. al coda? In what way could the last part to the ending be read on repeat? And what would that imply?

What were your favorite pranks? Have you ever pulled a prank or had one pulled on you? What was the best one? What was the worst? How did each make you feel?

Can pranks ever escalate to a kind of meanness? What is the spectrum connecting passivity to active nonviolence to passive aggressive behavior, pranks, and violence? What kinds of people should or shouldn't be pranked?

What did you think of Remmy and Beth's relationship? How may it have been improved or worsened?

Have you ever been to Southern Illinois? How is it different from Chicago, St. Louis, Indianapolis, or Nashville? Knowing it's 25,000 square miles of book desert with only two independent bookstores spread out over 1.3 million people, how hard do you think it is for a book about the region to get in the hands of those from the region? How can we help get the word out to locals?

Did you know about Bloody Williamson, the coal wars, or the oil wars? What did you learn?

Some characters in the book are of mixed-race descent and others from other intersectionalities. Did you notice who? If not, why? For instance, Bren — Remmy's son — is never described physically. What do you think he looks like?

What did you think of the Little Egypt Grammar? Much of the dialog — even the narration — came directly from Lancelot's grandpa's way of talking and the way others from that generation turned a phrase. Originally, the book had much more apostraphes, diacritics, and punctuation, but that seemed to get in the way of the text. Knowing what you know about the resurgence of verb endings, do you think there is a way to preserve first generation immigrant dialect in texts like these?

Knowing the map at the front of the book came from the science, industry, and business library of New York City, but didn't exist in Southern Illinois, what right to locales have to their own stories? What right do they have to navigating a changing landscape? How can resources be developed for the maximum benefit of all stakeholders? In short, what do NYC, Chicago, and Houston owe Little Egypt that they stole from the locals?

What are the consequences of our wars against injustice?

What did you think of the conversations with The Good Lord? The conversations are almost never referred to as "prayer," yet classically defined, they are an example ofwhat prayer is. How do you feel about that? What do you think it meant for the character?

Who do you think The Good Lord — the character in this book — is?

Who is Tobias?

How do you explain the tornado, the meteor, the magic of "the long suffering of Job," the resonant frequency, the storyweaving, and other seemingly unreal moments?

Would it surprise you to discover that Remmy is five foot nine and Bren is over six feet with long red hair?

There's an overarching theme of fatherhood, the presence (or absence) of fathers, and how their desperate need to provide ends up getting in the way of the very virtues of fatherhood. How did this play out?

What did you think of the epigraphs? How do they relate?

There's a book read by Remmy mentioned in almost every chapter to root the time period. Have you read any of those books? How do they relate?

There's a combination overarching metaphor of Robin Hood and Camelot. How do those two myths inform and illumine one another? How is it possible to take the best of both stories? And how do both stories illumine Bell Hammers?

Three times in the book, Remmy hears a bell hammer ringing. Why? And why the number three? Which specific kind of bell hammer does this refer to?

Bell Hammers Book Club Questions PDF

Click here for a printable PDF of the Bell Hammers discussion questions