"If Tom Waits were a novelist, he'd write like Walter Moore. Gravelly and soulful,
The Phalanx of Houston
is a bighearted novel of barrooms, back alleys, and one man's search for a lost friend."
-John Larison,
Whiskey When We're Dry, Northwest of Normal
"Bjorn's return home is a funny and fast-paced few days in the musical and bleary-eyed corners of Houston. As he tries to sort out why his old friend died, he discovers that we never truly sever ourselves from family, from the place we were raised, and from the aftermath of the things we've done.
is an irreverent, razor-sharp, and deliriously entertaining ride."
-Keith Scribner,
Old Newgate Road, The GoodLife
"Walter Moore's debut novel should be on every table of every coffee shop and on every countertop of any Houston bar that is worth a damn. When Bjorn is called home to southeast Texas because of a friend's early death, he leaves no urinal cake unturned in his search for reason. With imperfect, soulful characters and a keen sense of this strange, underwritten about city,
Phalanx
is worth the weekend trip. It'll have you reading on the toilet again. And in the line at H.E.B. And in bed with a candle or the light from a Marlboro to guide the way. It should come with a warning sticker: Poetically poor for your health."
--Jesse Donaldson,
The More They Disappear, On Homesickness
"Walter Moore has crafted an inspired, smoke-soaked tumble-quest of a novel. A twisted, beat-noir misadventure through the darkest dives of Houston, Texas, that manages to be irreverent, poetic, heart-rich, and funny as hell. This book sings!"
-Owen Egerton,
Hollow, How Best to Avoid Dying