Plunkett offers explosive debut novel, "Zone Rouge"

While earning a master’s degree of fine arts in creative writing at the College of Charleston, Marine Corps veteran Michael Jerome Plunkett began work on a project exploring the enduring scars of war on people and landscape through the lens of a group of men who are tasked with unearthing land mines left over from World War I.

Plunkett, a 34-year-old Ohio resident, will return to the Lowcountry 6 p.m. Wednesday at Buxton Books to promote “Zone Rouge,” his explosive debut novel.

The idea arose from a trip Plunkett made more than a decade ago as he was visiting the city of Verdun in northern France. The city was practically destroyed during World War I. Though it was rebuilt, there are thousands of unexploded ordnances still in the ground in the area around Verdun. Plunkett was fascinated by this and intrigued by those whose job is to dig them up and dispose of them safely.

His interest eventually became a story idea Plunkett began toying with in fiction workshop classes at CofC. It then became his thesis project, and from there, it continued to evolve. Now, three years after finishing grad school, unnamed press earlier this month published Plunkett’s debut novels.

The book is framed as a kind of retelling of the Greek myth of Sisyphus, who was condemned by the gods for eternity to roll a massive boulder up a hill, only for it to tumble back down each time he neared the top. But Plunkett infuses his book with contemporary anxieties over war, climate, class and the ghosts of our pasts.

While Sisyphus is helpless in his plight, Plunkett says “Zone Rouge’s” message isn’t one of disparity.

“We live in a world where we wake up, the news is overwhelming, and we feel helpless to change it? But it’s not helpless,” Plunkett said. “I hope this book will make people want to look inward, at their day-to-day lives, and ask: ‘What accountability can I take over my own interactions?’”

The book begins in the collective “we” as the reader learns about the démineurs, the men who discover and dismantle the bombs. Then in the second act, Plunkett performs a bit of nifty storytelling and “explodes” this narrative style. It fragments off into more individual stories before returning to the second person in the final act.

“Zone Rouge” has been racking up loads of praise from literary luminaries from Sebastian Junger (“Tribe,” “The Perfect Storm”), who said, “The scope and depth of Plunkett’s vision is breathtaking,” to The Wall Street Journal, which calls the book “Powerful, intelligent, bruising.”

A homecoming

Plunkett, who now lives in Columbus, Ohio, with his wife and two children, returns to the Holy City this week as part of his national book tour, which will take him from New England to Texas.

“To come back to Charleston, where I put the first words of this book down, is exciting,” said Plunkett, who will read from and sign copies of “Zone Rouge” on Wednesday from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.at Buxton Books The event will feature Plunkett in conversation with local author Bret Lott (“Jewel,” “The Hunt Club”), who was Plunkett’s thesis adviser at CofC.

On his book tour, Plunkett has read at a host of venues, but he said he really appreciated the intimacy of events at local bookstores.

“Nothing better than a good bookstore, it’s just a different feel than a regular venue,” he said.

Not only is Charleston a kind of homecoming for Plunkett, but Buxton Books specifically holds a very special place in the author’s heart. In addition to being an EMT while living in Charleston, Plunkett’s first job in town was at the bookstore.

“When I first moved to Charleston, I wanted to get to know the city, and what better way to get to know a city than to work at a bookstore,” he said. “It’s not just sentimental. It was my home when I lived here.”

IF YOU WANT TO GO: The event is 6 p.m. Wednesday, Buxton Books, 160 King St. More: buxtonbooks.com

Former City Paper staffer Lorne Chambers is editor and publisher of West Of Free Press.