Prepare to be amused, moved, disturbed. These dozen stories by a master
of idiosyncrasy visit a world where wit has heft, charm has shadow,
and human beings act out all the complicated nuances of love.
In the title story a young man waiting in the Hotel Eden
discovers, as others have, that Eden is not a permanent domicile.
In
"Zanduce at Second," a baseball player turned killer-by-accident
undergoes a surprising transformation.
We root for escaped felon Ray
("A Note on the Type") as he carves his name on a culvert wall.
We
drive the sweltering summer streets of Phoenix as a nineteen-year-old
narrator goes through an unsettling sexual awakening ("Oxygen").
In
these and other stories, whether his characters are getting sabotaged
by nightcaps or encountering nudists on a rafting trip, Carlson takes
us to a generous array of places in a new way.
Finally, in "The
Chromium Hook," he takes us to a lovers' lane where he solves an
ancient mystery.
Description:
In the title story a young man waiting in the Hotel Eden discovers, as others have, that Eden is not a permanent domicile.