John Dufresne

In a collection of short works, a romantic-minded woman must choose between a marriage of convenience and an affair, and an unfaithful man is found dead after announcing he is leaving his wife and children.

"Welcome to Shiver-de-Freeze, a boot-shaped precinct deep in the Louisiana swamp, famous for its healing waters and curious fauna. Grisham Loudermilk is marrying Adriane Thevenot at Paradise, the family's ancestral home, and we're here for the wedding. But reason and love, it would seem, keep little company in paradise these days: Grisham's cousin Adlai Birdsong has fallen desperately in love with the bride-to-be. Adlai's ill-advised courtship proceeds even as his daddy, Royce, struggles to recall his past in the face of Alzheimer's; as Father Pat McDermott realizes his passion for the mother of the bride; as the conjoined twins, Tous-les-Deux, train their eyes on Boudou Fontana, the last of the star-crossed Fantana clan. And just when it seems that Adlai must resign himself to a prolonged season of bachelorhood, Miranda Ferry, Grisham's recent lover, wanders into town unawares."--BOOK JACKET.

When Love Warps the Mind a Little opens, Lafayette Proulx has quit his day job, left his wife, hauled his dog and his Royal portable across town to Judi Dubey's house, and set out, at last, to be a fiction writer. But life is complicated. Laf spends a lot of his writing time staring out the window at his dog, Spot; Judi's dysfunctional family is unraveling; rejection letters from editors are coming in; and Judi, of all people, has sent him onto the marriage counselor's couch to sort out his angry feelings about his wife. To make matters worse, Judi is diagnosed with stage IV cancer. . Judi - she will break your heart and be remembered as one of the most lovable characters in American fiction - fights a heroic battle against the disease that becomes the backdrop for an exploration of illness, how it limits and expands our capacities for desire and passion, and love, its mystery and transparency, as Judi and Laf struggle to find the memory that will comfort, the truth that will redeem.

Welcome to Monroe, Louisiana, corrugated paper capital of the North Delta parishes, home of the Louisiana Passion Play and the Christian business weekly Prophet and Loss, a city whose library hosts a dysfunctional Great Books seminar, whose civil theater has produced a musical-comedy version of King Lear, and whose cypress tress have been known to drip snakes. Folks here have been studying the genetically deficient Fontana family for generations, ever since Peregrine Fontana sloshed his way out of the swamp in 1840. Now it's 1972 and Billy Wayne Fontana is the last survivor of this sorry familial line. In this hilarious and wholly original tragi-comic romp you'll meet Billy Wayne, who has been raised and groomed for the priesthood but who leaves his spiritual calling for Earlene, a sassy woman who writes country music lyrics at her kitchen table; George Binwaddie, a Pakistani messiah and motel owner who is driven to extraordinary acts of violence; Angelo Candella, a Vietnam hero and State House official who runs his office from a wheelchair; and Moon Pie Fontana, Billy Wayne's offspring, a physically disabled child-star radio evangelist.

Naked Came the Manatee is a novel like no other: a wickedly funny Florida suspense thriller, written serially by thirteen of the state's most talented writers. In November 1995, a baker's dozen of Florida's finest writers began a serial novel for The Miami Herald's Tropic magazine under the guidance of Tropic's editor Tom Shroder - one writer passing the completed chapters to the next - and with each chapter, the excitement grew.

"Continues the misadventures of therapist-on-the-run Wylie 'Coyote' Melville. Wylie has witnessed a woman falling to her death outside the Luxor Hotel. Troubled by the ensuing cover-up, he becomes a man on a mission, enlisting the help of his old friend, an ace card player and master magician, to help find answers. The duos escapades range from poker tables to desert highways, from bordellos to child beauty pageants"--provided by publisher.

John Dufresne's smart, practical, hard-nosed guide is for the person who has always wanted to write a novel but has been daunted by the sometimes chaotic, always challenging writing process. A patient teacher and an experienced writer, Dufresne focuses his expertise and good humor on helping aspiring novelists take their first tentative steps.

Brand-new stories by: Dennis Lehane, Stewart O'Nan, Patricia Powell, John Dufresne, Lynne Heitman, Don Lee, Russ Aborn, Itabari Njeri, Jim Fusilli, Brendan DuBois, and Dana Cameron.Dennis Lehane (Mystic River, The Given Day) has proven himself to be a master of both crime-fiction and literary fiction. Here, he extends his literary prowess to that of master curator. In keeping with the Akashic Noir Series tradition, each story in Boston Noir is set in a different neighborhood of the city; the impressively diverse collection extends from Roxbury to Cambridge, from Southie to the Boston Harbor; and all stops in between. Lehane's own contribution—the longest story in the volume—is set in his beloved home neighborhood of Dorchester and showcases his phenomenal ability to grip the heart, soul, and throat of the reader.In 2003, Lehane's novel Mystic River was adapted into film and quickly garnered six Academy Award nominations (with Sean Penn and Tim Robbins each winning Academy Awards).