Stephen Dobyns

The sleepy community of Brewster, Rhode Island, is just like any other small American town. It's a place where most of the population will likely die blocks from where they were born ; where gossip spreads like wildfire, and the big entertainment on weekends is the inevitable fight at the local bar. But recently, something out of the ordinary--perhaps even supernatural--has been stirring in Brewster. While packs of coyotes gather on back roads and...

After his wife and daughter die in a fire, set by a jealous student, Jim Hawthorne takes a job as headmaster of a New England prep school. But escaping his past is not easy and here too murder comes his way.

A racing horse famous for biting people's backsides is bought for a million dollars. The new owner is overjoyed until PI Victor Plotz notices the horse has stopped biting. So what? So, maybe someone switched horses at the last moment, an observation that puts Plotz's life in danger.

"The latest installment in Stephen Dobyns's Charlie Bradshaw mysteries, Saratoga Payback follows the latest exploits of Saratoga Springs' most unusual and sardonic detective. Ever since the cops revoked his private investigator's license, Charlie Bradshaw has been adjusting to life as a regular senior citizen. But reading, sitting around the house, and making amateur home repairs is a far cry from his past life as Saratoga Springs' most successful...

"Humorous, ironic, furious, sad, and wise, [these poems] ... are delivered in a precise, straightforward voice unafraid of pointing out that the emperor isn't wearing any clothes and revealing the often incomprehensible contraditions of human behavior"--Page 4 of cover.

This writer's guide provides a helpful framework for creating poetry and navigates contemporary concerns and practices. The author, also author of the classic book on the beauty of poetry, Best Words, Best Order, moves into new terrain in this book. Bringing years of experience to bear on issues such as subject matter, the mechanics of poetry, and the revision process, he explores the complex relationship between writers and their work. From Philip...

In a war-torn Latin American capital, a group of old friends gather at the home of Dr. Daniel Pacheco for their semiannual reunion. Kept prisoners by an emergency curfew, they wander into revelations of brutality and deception. The evening's centerpiece is the host's gradual disclosure of his obsession with Señora Puccini, whom he met as a young socialite. Now his housekeeper and sexual slave, she quietly serves dinner as Pacheco details the limitless...