Hallucinating between childhood and manhood, Eddie Burnett is both hero and anti-hero in this hard-hitting collection of linked stories. Coming of age in California's post-war suburbs and freefalling through the turbulence of the sixties and early seventies, Eddie's transformation from a boy's innocence to a man's hardened wariness is captured in lyrical, emotionally raw episodes. He navigates the minefields of American masculinity in a series of disturbing, yet strangely uplifting odysseys, from hope to despair and back again.
"Bajema's prose combines the precision of pop-song lyrics with the surreal haziness of a fever-dream. . . . these lyrical stories treat a range of topics, from schoolboy football stardom and infatuation with a local beauty to Eddie's encounters with his emotionally battered father, described as a 'dog of war' with a 'soul in pieces.' A raw and direct pathway into the mind of an independent youth '
Publishers Weekly
"Bajema's prose is surly and mesmerizing, snakes down your throat like a pickup's exhaust. Fans of Sam Shepard will dig these desperate and beautiful tales."
Joshua Mohr, author of Damascus
"Don Bajema is one of my favorite writers. His stories are tough, honest and sometimes brutal yet they're also merciful, wise and transcendent. Reading Bajema's work is like hearing an ancient, mysterious folk song played by a great rock and roll band in a dark bar somewhere in the Mojave Desert on a hot night. Don Bajema's stories makes me want to go write songs and play guitar too loud."
Dave Alvin, Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter