The Elliott Bay Book Company

Eugene Marten is one of those authors who prove that acclaim and a review in the New York Times are things that have more to do with luck and less to do with talent than anyone wants to admit. If everyone read the best, we'd all know his name. Brilliant contemporary fiction. Read it!

If I were—one day—walking along the shore of the ocean and were lucky enough to stumble across a bottle containing a genie, and the genie offered me one wish (the caveat being that the wish be book recommendation related) I would wish that everyone read this book. This book. I wish you would read it.

A collection of unique and inspired short fictions. While all the stories in this book are—as the title implies—about less than desirable life-paths, no two are alike in style, tone, or plot. Clean, concise prose makes the creative explosions truly awesome to read.

This most recent and posthumously published of Zinn's titles is, to me, his most important. Every time I read him I learn something that profoundly impacts my world view. Excellent.