Cher Smith: 3 books

Between 1973 and 1978, Michelle “Feather” Jones dominated adult movie theaters as the burgeoning porn industry’s queen. Fans flocked to her screenings, and critics hailed her as the next big thing. By 1980, though, Feather was homeless, hooked on heroin, and prostituting in order to buy drugs....

Z Ellis has always believed he is the twin brother of mass murderer Adam Russo, even though Z was adopted by a loving family when he was five. What he doesn't know is that he and Adam are actually the same person and that a special department of the FBI—the Eradication of Violent Crimes—has...

In this long story, five intertwined tales each reveal an aspect of humanity under a wisp of smoke curling from the smokestack of the Henry and Green Mortuary and Crematorium. Birth, family, sex, religion, and career all play out in separate stories against the backdrop of the one thing they all have in common: death.