. . Ironweed, William Kennedy is making American literature."--The Washington Post Book WorldLegs inaugurated William Kennedy's celebrated cycle of novels set in Albany, New York. True to both life and myth. Legs evokes the flamboyant career of the legendary gangster Jack "Legs" Diamond, who was finally murdered in Albany, and his showgirl mistress as they blaze a trail across the tabloid pages of the 1920s and 1930s.The second novel in the Albany cycle depicts Billy Phelan, a slightly tarnished poker player, pool hustler, and small-time bookie, as he moves through the lurid nighttime glare of a tough Depression-era town. Full of Irish pluck, he works the fringes of Albany sporting life with his own particular style--until he falls from underworld grace.In the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Ironweed, Francis Phelan, ex-ballplayer, part-time gravedigger, and full-time drunk, has hit bottom. Years ago he left Albany after killing a scab during a workers' strike, and again after he accidentally--and fatally--dropped his infant son. Now, in 1938, Francis is back, roaming familiar streets and trying to make peace with ghosts of the past and present.

    Now the stories alone are available for the first time in trade paperback.

     Hailed as "the American le Carré," Robert Littell presents an ambitious novel about star-crossed idealist Alexander Til. When Til returns from America to Petrograd on the eve of the October Revolution in 1917, it is to put his life on the line in the hope of transforming Russia. But after witnessing the birth of a new era, he watches the people, and his own ideals, trampled by the rise of Josef Stalin-with whom Til is destined to have a shattering confrontation. Taking readers from the storming of the Winter Palace to the nightmares of the gulag, The Revolutionist is a masterwork of historical fiction.

    . . mature and assured. . . . A major American novelist.”— New RepublicSomething is wrong with Eddie Hobson, Sr., father of four, sometime history teacher, quiz master, black humorist, and virtuoso invalid. His recurring fainting spells have worsened, and given his ingrained aversion to doctors, his worried family tries to discover the nature of his sickness.Meanwhile, in private, Eddie puts the finishing touches on a secret project he calls Hobbstown, a place that he promises will save him, the world, and everything that’s in it.A dazzling novel of compassion and imagination, Prisoner’s Dilemma is a story of the power of individual experience.

    Reprint. Paul West is one of the English language's finest novelists. Considered by many to be among his greatest and most rewarding books The Place In Flowers Where Pollen Rests recounts an odyssey from Arizona's Hopi mesas to the California motels where sex films get made, from Vietnam's battle zones to the very stars. First published in 1988, this edition contains a new introduction by David W. Madden, and two provocative essays by West on contemporary fiction.

    Writing in a voice that is local, true, and cinematic Carpenter invites us to see how this half lives--people from the suburbs; neighborhoods of ranch-style houses with faux shutters, groomed lawns, no sidewalks. FROM A DISTANT PLACE tells the story of the Jeminovski family, four souls orbiting each other, never making contact. There is Jackie, who at forty-five is the envy of her neighbors; her former husband Steven, a pleasure-related injuries lawyer in Southern California; and their two children, Derek and Diedre. Beyond the facade of "having arrived," the Jeminovskis struggle to find meaning in their lives.FROM A DISTANT PLACE makes a powerful statement about the complacency of the modern American suburb, the daily horrors of apathy, and the evils of disinterest. It is the story of a middle-aged woman learning to save her own life, and her son Derek, who must make up a life for himself. Don Carpenter has written a tale of disconnected lives filled with moments of grace and humanity, moments of humor, and a few small moments of epiphany.(from front jacket flap)

    Forty-four years later, Bragg's nephew travels to South Carolina to discover the truth--and finds himself on the Wanted List and fighting for his own freedom! HC: Mysterious Press.

    It led to passion, then marriage and children. They thought they had it all, but under pressure their happy home became a battleground. Now spending alternate days in their home with their children, they have an unorthodox arrangement that keeps them close--and the desire alive.