"[Shepard] drills down through the strata of our history into the bedrock of American myth."--Walter Kirn, "The New York Times Book Review""Expansive and rich. . . . With scenarios that are at once unbearable and irresistible, Shepard casts a predictably haunting spell." --"USA Today" "Gorgeous. . . . Searing. . . . Shepard beautifully records the overlooked, strange places men find themselves, both physically and emotionally." --"San Francisco Chronicle" "Sharp enough to move a reader to tears. . . . Funny and smart. . . . Profoundly satisfying. . . . The narrator talks out his conflicts . . . with great precision and beauty." --"The Boston Globe""Expansive, panoramic. Like Bob Dylan, Shepard is a geographer of the rawboned surrealism of America's shadow interior, story after story bearing the name of a town or highway, our national portrait dabbed with a thousand points of darkness." -James Wolcott, "Vanity Fair" "These stories [have a] deep, abiding appeal." -"The Los Angeles Times" "This is Shepard's brilliance--the ability to continually surprise us. He plays with our heads, pushes boundaries, and in the end makes the journey worthwhile." -"The Denver Post" "Shepard [is] one of the most lavishly gifted, prolific artists of his generation." -"The Plain Dealer" "These deceptively modest works, reflective and witty, explode with fresh energy. Their touches of absurdity give way to a depth of emotional loss that will sneak up and wring your heart dry. [Sam Shepard] is still a star, still a treasure....It takes an eternally young genius like Shepard to make us laugh and wonder." -"The Daily Beast" "Shepard's talent and bent for language is what drives the book. The rhythms. The precision of the words. His instincts on when to give and when to hold back. All together, these pieces take us on a road trip of America, before dropping us off inside ourselves." -"The Providence Journal" "His l