Funeral Platter — Greg Ames

From the author of Buffalo Lockjaw comes a mordantly humorous collection of taut, off-the-wall, and heartbreaking short stories. A young girl aspiring to be a ventriloquist using a burnt log as a dummy; Franz Kafka and Sartre cruising a seedy bar, trying to pick up chicks; a lighthearted retired couple stages and executes their own funeral; a son lovingly prepares and brings corn chowder to his parents, whom he keeps in a cage in his backyard. This collection -- peppered with moments of violence and tenderness -- touches on political satire, social disillusionment, and the joy and perversity of human love.

In the tradition of Etgar Keret, Greg Ames' prose style ties together the absurd hilarity and deep anguish of the situations his characters find themselves in. These wildly inventive stories will appeal to readers who thirst for a unique, deeply humane voice.