Tooth and Claw: And Other Stories

A fierce, moving, and entertaining new collection of stories from America's master of short fiction.

Since his first collection of stories, Descent of Man, appeared in 1979, T. C. Boyle has become an acknowledged master of the form who has transformed the nature of short fiction in our time. Among the fourteen tales in his seventh collection are the comic yet lyrical title story, in which a young man wins a vicious African cat in a bar bet; "Dogology," about a suburban woman losing her identity to a pack of strays; and "The Kind Assassin," which explores the consequences of a radio shock jock's quest to set a world record for sleeplessness. Muscular, provocative, and blurring the boundaries between humans and nature, the funny and the shocking, Tooth and Claw is Boyle at his best.

"The threat of imminent demise — whether self-inflicted or from an ungentle Mother Nature — hovers in Boyle's seventh collection (after the novel The Inner Circle). Ravenous alligators make a memorable cameo in 'Jubilation,' in which a divorced man seeking community and stability moves into a 'model' town erected in a Florida theme park (think Disney's Celebration), only to find that benign surfaces conceal dangerous depths. This theme of civilization versus wilderness also underpins the weird and wonderful 'Dogology,' in which a young woman's frustration with the accoutrements of the human world compels her to run — on all fours — with a pack of neighborhood dogs. 'Here Comes' — one of the collection's more realistic pieces — describes the anxious circumstances of a suddenly homeless alcoholic poised to slip through the cracks for good in a Southern California town. Substance abuse figures again in 'Up Against the Wall,' about a young man seduced by a dissolute new crowd, while his parents' marital discord and the Vietnam War tug at the edges of his drugged-out awareness. The wired rhythm of Boyle's prose and the enormity of his imagination make this collection irresistible; with it he continues to shore up his place as one of the most distinctive, funniest — and finest — writers around." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"Darker tones and an impressive range of subjects dominate this impressive collection....Vintage Boyle, and not to be missed." Kirkus Reviews

"Boyle provides ample delights — a robust sense of place, crackerjack dialogue, real stories — on the way to his expected endings....Boyle's stories are consistently very good, but rarely — only one or two in this collection — terrific." Laura Miller, The New York Times

"Boyle's imagination is protean, and his prose transporting....Boyle's visions of our perverse attempts to defy and deny nature are darkly humorous and wisely trenchant..." Booklist

"[A] medley of hits and misses....But when he scores, he scores with style." The Oregonian (Portland, OR)

"T. C. Boyle, a virtuoso craftsman, is one of the reasons readers do love short stories, and Tooth and Claw will give devotees of the form much pleasure and an occasional frisson." Annie Proulx, The Washington Post Book World

"This strong collection will delight Boyle's longtime fans and win him converts." Library Journal

"Boyle has a seemingly limitless gift for the outrageous, sometimes grotesque, often incredible situation....Many of these stories are dazzling, some just quite good. But each one is worth the time it takes to read it." Rocky Mountain News

"Readers shouldn't be scared away by the gloom of this collection. Boyle is too good a writer to eliminate the fun, and his deadpan wit is on display throughout." Cleveland Plain Dealer

"No doubt about it, Boyle is a storytelling manipulator....But whether he is breaking your heart or making you laugh, you just don't care because he is so darned good at it." San Francisco Chronicle

"[A] writer of astonishing range and imagination, fierce intelligence and trenchant wit. Those gifts are dazzlingly displayed in this collection of 14 short stories, each a fully realized world shot through with perils either natural or man-made." Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A collection of fourteen stories previously published in such magazines as the New Yorker and Playboy includes "The Kind Assassin," in which a radio shock jock sets a world record; "Dogology," in which an obsessed woman loses sight of her identity; and the title story, in which a man wins a vicious African cat in a bet. By the author of The Inner Circle. Reprint. 60,000 first printing.

T. C. Boyle is the New York Times bestselling author of ten novels and has published seven collections of short fiction. He received the PEN/Faulkner Award for his novel World's End and the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in Short Fiction. His stories appear regularly in the New Yorker, GQ, Esquire, and Playboy.