Awards
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
A New York Times Notable Book
Synopses & Reviews
A New York Times Notable Book of the YearA Publisher's Weekly Best Book of the Year
Combining the wit of David Lodge with Poe's delicious sense of the macabre, these are three witty, spooky novellas of satire set in academia—a world where Derrida rules, love is a "complicated ideological position," and poetic justice is served with an ideological twist.
Review
"Hynes must have struck a pact with the devil when he began writing these tales because their tone is perfect." Maureen Corrigan, National Public Radio
Review
"Deliciously creepy novellas....Hynes's writing is diamond sharp, revealing his characters' souls as surely as a Judgment Day angel." Amy Waldman, People
Review
"Riveting...exhilarating...a work of sheer joy." Cathleen Schine, The New York Times Book Review
Review
"A perfect blend of dark comedy and the ghost story, reminiscent of the best of T. C. Boyle and the best of Poe." David Treuer, The Minneapolis Star-Tribune
About the Author
James Hynes is the author of The Wild Colonial Boy and The Lecturer's Tale, and has received the Hopwood Award and a Michener Fellowship. He has taught at the University of Michigan, and his television criticism has appeared in Mother Jones and the Utne Reader. He lives in Austin, Texas.
Table of Contents
Queen of the jungle -- 99 -- Casting the runes.