Cruising Paradise: Tales

The stories and vignettes in this collection "take place in a country of cheap motels and souped-up cars, where heavy-drinking loners harbor a 'longlostness,' suffer an addiction to self-destruction, and often face violent deaths. Most of Shepard's characters are men, and they are angry and anguished,uncomfortable with women and domesticity, loyal to their drinking buddies no matter how insane they become, and dependent on motion and music for what little peace they find.