Old Man Evil

Old Man Evil is a collection of 12 stories, six of which take place in contemporary America while the other five transpire abroad. The flagship story, in which a suburban refugee finds himself in a New Mexican shantytown among derelicts and eccentrics, examines the quiet damage inflicted by social conventions. Backlighting the action is the millennia-distant afterglow of Sodom and Gomorrah. Set to Rebetika music, "e; Pub Blues"e; is an exploration of marriage and middle age that takes place in urban New Jersey. "e; Chele Kula"e; dramatizes the struggle against imperialism during the Serbian uprising against the Ottoman Empire in 1809. "e; Straightsville"e; tests the depth of a suburban heterosexual' s acceptance of gay men. "e; Hamlet' s Ghost Sighted in Frontenac, KS,"e; in which a mixed-blood Hopi wonders whether his uncle killed his father, takes place in a single hallucinogenic night fueled by cocaine. "e; Tolstoy' s Kunak"e; revolves around the friendship that formed between the Russian author and a young Chechen during the Russo-Caucasian Wars. "e; Mengele' s Gypsy,"e; is based on the documented relationship between Josef Mengele and a four-year-old Gypsy boy imprisoned in Auschwitz.