Interstate Dreams

Dreamer came back to Austin, Texas from a bad banana war with a souvenir slug in his head. No big deal, just a minor side effect: Now, every safe, every lock, every fancy alarm takes a nap when he's around.Dreamer's not tempted. He's straight arrow and doesn't need the dough. He's happy selling guppies, hanging out at Mama Lucy's Vishnu and Barbecue. And, when the days are long and the AC's blowing cool, spending lazy afternoons with his breathtaking, irritating, mean-mouthed over and big-time attorney, Eileen.Still, a secret like Dreamer's doesn't stay secret long. A lot of people want to know what his talent's all about. People like Detective Asher, who makes wrongdoers move up to New York. Abu-el-Yusuf, who wants to buy Fort Worth. Zillionaire Gus Brauweiler, who owns nearly everything there is, and Houston mobster Mako Binder, who steals all the rest.Only Neal Barrett, Jr., author of The Hereafter Gang, heralded as "One of the Great American novels," could stir up this special mix of outrageous mayhem and unadulterated black-hearted fun you'll find in Interstate Dreams.PRAISE FOR INTERSTATE DREAMS:"Barrett, in short, is a treasure...He writes with a vibrant economy that in no way cheats the reader, but delivers a tremendous picture of the scene, or a character's state of mind. He's like Cormac McCarthy, only good." -Mark Finn (The Revolution Review)"Interstate Dreams has an oddly disorienting effect...It veers from gut-busting wisecracks to gut-wrenching mayhem without warning--a combination that has become Barrett's trademark. It's a calling card that has earned him critical praise..." -Mike Shea (The Austin Chronicle)"It's either genius or some form of insanity...Neal has the ability to take small things and look at them in such a unique and odd way, a way that you've never seen before. He has the ability to look around corners imaginatively. He's one of the most creative writers I've ever ead." -Joe R. Lansdale (Author of The Magic Wagon)"Barrett is funny, Texas-funny, funny like Larry McMurtry,deadpan, tall-tale, side-of-the-mouth, scatty, fleeting. And he knows all the moves of modern sf, though he does not go down all the trails he might. And he loves sex. And he writes with a vertiginous, onrushing, superbly controlled, stromping intensity. And he is utterly ruthless in his understanding that the world we are now entering is downward from America." -John Clute