What? You weren't aware that Eisenhower had a top-secret affair with Khrushchev's wife? Perhaps you need the vivid details of blues impresario Robert Johnson's death? And have you availed yourself of the former President's plan to snag two terms in the White House...beat protaganists and moments in time. An Elvis impersonator, a yuppie asparagus-crepe eater and his haunting rebel shadow, the survivalist who moves his family to Montana, a loyal Communist fighting to "hold public property sacred" in the cold Moscow winter...Boyle unfailingly delivers rare specimens in story after story.

"There was a time when courtesy and winning ways went out of style, when it was good to be bad, when you cultivated decadence like a taste. We were all dangerous characters then." These opening lines from the first story "Greasy Lake" could describe most all of the zany, complex characters who color these fifteen stories. A quick, entertaining read.

If a writer of fiction can be believed, then T.C. Boyle's description of how he begins his writing routine is psycho crazy! According to him he cuts a chicken's throat, bleeds it into a bowl which he places under his desk, immerses his bare feet in the bowl and then writes until the blood feels cold. You certainly won't find this advice in any writer's how-to manual at your local library! If this is the price of new, fresh and contemporary fiction, then some might argue that a few chickens being sacrificed for art is worth the price. One of Boyle's gifts is that he is always interesting and truly original. How many contemporary authors can you really say that about today? Anyway, this collection is in my opinion one of his best. From the title story to a short sketch about the bluesman Robert Johnson, he keeps you on your toes from one short piece to the next. You never quite know what to expect with regard to Boyle's style. Another of his gifts is that he takes society's norms and conventions and manages to turn them upside down in a very entertaining fashion. With Boyle, you as the reader are always in on the joke. Many of his pieces despite their non-conventional nature have appeared in conservative men's magazines like GQ. Go figure....If you like to explore new authors, then you could hardly do better than picking up anything day cross between Gogol and Kafka, but on some serious hallucinogens. If he and Dr. Hunter S. Thompson aren't friends, then they definitely should be. See for yourself why Boyle is one of the only exciting voices in contemporary fiction.

Hoota" to "The Hector Quesadilla Story", Boyle ranges through writing styles and emotion like a master. This is a book with a new twist around every bend, and Boyle's beautiful stories will leave you both rolling with laughter and a little disturbed at times, but always entertained