Tina in the Back Seat

"Rawley's style is sumptuous and baroque. He has an uncanny knack for making the bizarre beautiful and for capturing the pathos and peculiar dignity of characters who wouldn't ordinarily command respect." -- The Observer, London

"Rawley's writing blazes unapologetically fecund and startling, like some kind of bird of paradise from Mars." -- Sandra Tsing Loh, author of Depth Takes a Holiday

In thirteen dazzling and disquieting tales, Rawley exposes the broken dreams and ravaged lives of individuals who live on the outskirts of mainstream society. A Hollywood-legend lookalike whose diminutive stature masks a huge craving for love; a career trophy wife with a gift for pleasing rich old men; a wealthy Asian matron seeking a precarious salvation through gambling; two retired hit men reminiscing about the good old days--these portraits offer a searing vision of the dark side of sun-drenched California. As poetic as it is brutal, this collection resoundingly confirms the late Donald Rawley's reputation as a peerless chronicler of the secret longing of desperate lives.

"Donald Rawley is the literary equivalent of amyl nitrate. Reading this searing talent may give you a heart attack, but you'll die with a twisted, sated smile of gratitude on your lips." -- Jerry Stahl, author of Permanent Midnight

"Donald Rawley makes myth of our contemporary lives." -- Kate Braverman