Fender Lizards — Joe R. Lansdale

The unmistakable accent of the Piney Woods of East Texas rolls from the pages of ''Fender Lizards,'' Joe R. Lansdale's tale of the life and love and work of one Dot Sherman, who delivers on her promise that her story is ''the real thing from beginning to end.''

Dot waitresses on roller skates at the Dairy Bob, doesn't care for smoking at least partly on account of her dad having never returned from a cigarette run, and carries on the family tradition of philosophizing. Life hasn't done her any favors in her seventeen years so far. But if there was ever a heroine built for turning things upside down and seeing what shakes out, it's Dot. Determined to find out who she is and why she's the way she is, an opportunity presents itself when her heretofore-unknown uncle suddenly moves his camper into the front yard.

As in his classic novels ''The Bottoms'' and ''The Magic Wagon,'' multiple-award-winning Lansdale instills place with character and character with place. Here is an overlooked world and a cast of real folks that prove unforgettable, all rendered in one of American fiction's most authentic voices.