{"product_id":"2940013873131","title":"The Drowned Library","description":"Paul Kerschen's virtuosic debut dives into mythologies from around the world and brings back strange treasure. By turns lyrical, funny, enigmatic and harrowing, these nine stories leap with audacity and grace across styles and settings, from ancient Greece and Palestine to the border towns and office parks of today. A soldier returned from Iraq is haunted by the vision of a giant holding the world on his shoulders. A dying writer creates a secret dictionary and receives a divine visit. A migrant worker in the Southwest confronts the deadly emptiness of the desert. The labors of Hercules, the resurrection of Lazarus and the founding of Rome are given startling new tellings. The Drowned Library is in a class all its own, and introduces a remarkable new writer. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"In The Drowned Library, Paul Kerschen samples from a variety of mythologies, from Greek to Judean to modern Babylonian (i.e., San Franciscan), to create a polyvocal collection of impressive, atonal stories. The writing is playful and provocative, the emotion complex and surprising, and the ideas both classical and immediate. By which I mean that this is an exuberant mix of fractured faery tales for the lowdown, high-minded logophile set, and that Kerschen is a great talent, and that you should read him and rejoyce.\" -- Josh Emmons, author of The Loss of Leon Meed and Prescription For a Superior Existence \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"There is no mistaking a Paul Kerschen story or even a Paul Kerschen sentence. His words pulse with wisdom, wit and immense compassion. Kerschen's writing not only recalibrates these mythologies for modern readers, he pulls them down to earth, turning them inside out, revealing their anxieties, vulnerabilities and their hidden humanity. This is a spectacular debut.\" --Aimee Phan, author of We Should Never Meet and The Reeducation of Cherry Truong \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"At once fiercely intellectual and tremendously readable, Paul Kerschen's suite of stories will astonish you with its inventiveness, emotional range, and bravado. Truly a pleasure to read; easily one of the best books of the year.\" --Pauls Toutonghi, author of Red Weather and Evel Knievel Days","brand":"Potemkin Media Omnibus, Ltd.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47083239571696,"sku":"2940013873131","price":7.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013873131_p0.jpg?v=1763600650","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013873131","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}