Steel Rails, Brittle Lives
In early 1998, author Lucius Shepard embarked on a new journey…Shepard joined the “hobo nation”—riding the rails throughout the western half of the United States, his “neighbors” the disenfranchised, the...
After a disturbing call from a certain Josias Brandt, Karl Hofmeyr departs for Cape Town to help his brother, Iggy, who is apparently running amok. On this journey Karl — hard-core heavy-metal fan — valiantly contends with inner demons as well...
Mitchell S. Jackson grew up black in a neglected neighborhood in America’s whitest city, Portland, Oregon. In the ’90s, those streets and beyond had fallen under the shadow of crack cocaine and its familiar mayhem. In his commanding...
“xTx is the complete young literary god. Billie the Bull is mind-bogglingly and intricately superb down to its tiniest punctuation marks. To me, she’s about as great as it can get. Seriously, I’m awestruck.” —Dennis...
What would happen if you invited Lorrie Moore, Mona Simpson, Tom Perrotta, and Steven Wright to a suburban barbecue? Something like this wry and wistful new novel of marriage, lust, and disconnection, from the author of What He's Poised to...
Deep in the heart of seventh-century Arabia, a new prophet named Muhammad has arisen. As his message of enlightenment sweeps through Arabia and unifies the warring tribes, his young wife Aisha recounts Muhammad's astonishing transformation from...
It’s the summer of 1999 when the two children of wealthy video game executive Jose Francisco Vivar, Alicia and Bruno, go missing in the beach town of Matanza. Long after their disappearance, the people of Matanza and the adjacent towns of Navidad...
“A startling debut. Joshua Mohr takes us to a different city, but a city we know, populated by the dark side of ourselves.”—Stephen Elliott
Enter Damascus, the womb-like bar in San Francisco’s Mission District, and you’ll find Rhonda,...
Charged by lyrical prose and vivid evocations of a more-than-human world, Meteors in August proves itself a magnificent debut, a tale of despair and salvation in all their many forms.
Lizzie Macon is seven when her father drives a Native...