hardcover $29.95
ISBN 1-930997-68-X

From crimes of heart and crimes of violence, A CITY EQUAL TO MY DESIRE effortlessly guides you through the narrows of human existence in all its forms. In this selection of new stories, James Sallis, author of the acclaimed Lew Griffin series of detective novels, both entertains and engages the mind with stories that will linger in memory long after they've been experienced.

"Sallis wants to take your experience of the world, mutate it to the edge of recognition, and then deliver it back before your eyes like a coin pulled from behind your earlobe. And in this way, he makes you see and feel, all over again, the meaning, the beauty-and, pointedly sometimes, the horror-of being human." Jack O'Connell from his introduction

BOOKLIST: "This satisfying collection of dark dream parables fans out a fistful of snapshots from times and places foreign to us...it's as if we're flipping through classic Twilight Zone episodes. Some of these apocalyptic tales have the cheery tone of the old Police tune 'When the World Is Running Down (You Make the Best of What's Still Around).' But others ... remind us to cherish what we have while we can."

THISWEEK: "By turns dark, apocalyptic, comic, melancholy, surreal and provocative... his always lyrical language and eye for telling detail dominates."

The Agony Column: "...almost irresistibly readable... expect to be surprised! But once you read the first selection, one thing won't surprise you — the high quality of the writing on display here. Sallis is a true original, and he deserves to be read by fans of speculative fiction as much as by fans of mystery fiction. Readers in the market for a powerful collection of unpredictable short fiction should start lining up now."


contents:

introduction by Jack O'Connell

Ukulele and The World’s Pain / Drive / When Fire Knew My Name / Get Along Home / Blue Yonders / Stepping Away from the Stone / Second Thoughts / Christian / Concerto for Violence and Orchestra / New Life / Roofs and Forgiveness in the Early Dawn / Under Construction / Venice Is Sinking into the Sea / Pitt’s World / Flesh of Stone and Steel / Up / Day’s Heat / Autumn Leaves / The Monster in Mid-Life / The Museum of Last Week / The Genre Kid / Telling Lives / Your New Career


point blank is an imprint of Wildside Press, LLC.