13 Stories & 13 Epitaphs [William T. Vollmann]

The settings for the stories in Vollmann's collection range from Las Vegas to Bangkok, but his protagonists share traits in common. They are the desperate, the haunted, those who have reached the end of their ropes and are trying to make sense of a world that has failed them. The prostitutes and pimps, the addicts and the skinheads, who are the subjects of Vollmann's stories are all engaged in larger journeys of self-discovery. The hope that the next fix, the next night of sex, the next trip abroad will finally lead them to an always allusive internal peace."

William T. Vollmann is my favorite living author and it is an honor to present any of his works for sale. I am a completionist with Vollmann...I own it all...and this one ranks high. Somewhere between The Atlas and The Rainbow Stories, these works tap into the best parts of Vollmann's writing, that seedy verite no one else has the guts to do. Pick this up, he's the best. Vollmann at the peak of his "child prodigy" era.