The Off Season - Softcover

Cady, Jack

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1630230103 ISBN 13: 9781630230104

Publisher: Underland Press, 2015

Synopsis

There is a curse on Point Vestal. Time moves differently in this sleepy Northwestern coastal town, where the ghosts of the past roam the streets as readily as the living inhabitants. It's still the late 19th century, and underneath the quaint touristy allure of the commingling of the past and present is a lurking darkness. August Starling, a decadent (and dead) crime baron, has a plan for Point Vestal because the magical nature of the town is a haven for sinners fleeing judgment for their crimes. And the only residents who can stop him are newcomers to town: a defrocked Episcopalian priest and a talking cat, who is fluent in seven languages.

The Off Season is an effusive meditation on the nature of the fantastic, by a writer the Atlanta Constitution calls "a lasting voice in modern American literature." Cady, winner of both the Nebula and the World Fantasy Award, has given us "a consummate yarn, told with many digressions and anecdotes that combine with folksy humor to create a tall tale suffused with pathos and melancholy." (The Seattle Times)

About this title

Review

"I wanted to write a book that . . . my hero, Mark Twain, would enjoy reading," says Jack Cady. And indeed, this novel is so full of biting humor and hilarious fatalism--not to mention a century's worth of spirits out and about in a small coastal town--that you'll come to believe that somewhere Twain's ghost is laughing as he reads it. A few hints at the novel's riches: a defrocked hippie priest who plays the violin for his multilingual cat; blood-choked screams that people set their watches by; a tourist trade selling Victorian funerals with all the trappings; an evil that twists and whirls like red shadows in a room where a man dances with a corpse. Cady has spun a great yarn, with all the proper Victorian sentiments: guilt, remorse, melancholy, pride in duty.

About the Author

Jack Cady (1932–2004) was an award-winning fantasist and horror writer. During his career he won the Nebula Award, the World Fantasy Award, and the Bram Stoker Award. He taught writing at various academic institutions, including the University of Washington and Pacific Lutheran University. He was a conscientious objector during the Korean War, a member of the U.S. Coast Guard in Maine, a truck driver, an auctioneer, a landscaper, and a fervent believer in the value of history as a tool to understanding both politics and writing.

Edition details

• Publisher: Underland Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1630230103
• ISBN 13: 9781630230104
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 260