Aliens of Affection

The idiosyncratic genius of Padgett Powell shines through in nine stories that bend the conventions of short fictionPadgett Powell''s literary stage is a blurred vision of the American South. His characters are bored, sad, assured, confused, deluded, and often just one step away from madness. The stories they populate are madder still, delivered by a voice enthralling and distinctive.Whether he''s chronicling a housewife''s encouragement of adolescent lust, following two good ol'' boys on their search for a Chinese healer, or delving into the mind of an unstable moped accident survivor as he awaits a hefty settlement check, Powell revels in the irregularities of the mundane. His people occupy bar stools and strip clubs, pickup truck cabs and mental health clinics, looking for love, drugs, answers. According to the New York Times Book Review, "Mr. Powell is like a fabulous guest at a dinner party, the guy who gets people drinking far too much and licking their dessert plates and laughing at jokes-for which not a few of them will hate themselves in the morning.""Powell is an inordinately gifted writer." -The New York Times Book Review"Powell has written a sometimes baffling, often fascinating, and always unique collection of short stories. . . . [He] has fun twisting language and exploring how the human mind works. . . . The author''s willingness to take risks is admirable." -Library Journal"Powell''s stories are . . . gleefully non-narrative, aggressively stylized, linguistically inventive, and often very funny." -The Washington PostPadgett Powell is the author of six novels, including The Interrogative Mood and You & Me. His novel Edisto was a finalist for the National Book Award. His writing has appeared in the New Yorker, Harper''s Magazine, Little Star, and the Paris Review, and he is the recipient of the Rome Fellowship in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, as well as the Whiting Writers'' Award. He lives in Gainesville, Florida, where he teaches writing at MFA@FLA, the writing program of the University of Florida.