And here is the killer cover of Smoke City by Keith Rosson, cover design also by Keith Rosson! We were curious to see how Keith would design a cover that captured the essence of this book–a contemporary novel with a very un-contemporary backstory, Joan of Arc’s reincarnated executioner on a road trip with a down-on-his-luck alcoholic artist, and ghostly apparitions literally popping up all over place. Magical realism at its finest! Well, we think that this cover knocks it out of the park. And we can’t wait to share what’s inside come January!
Smoke City: Marvin Deitz—record store owner, hospital volunteer, remorseful reincarnation of Joan of Arc’s executioner—heads to Los Angeles to ask forgiveness from a woman claiming to be Joan; he’s picked up hitchhiking by Mike Vale, a self-destructive alcoholic painter traveling to his ex-wife’s funeral, and as they move through a California landscape populated with “smokes” (ghostly apparitions that’ve inexplicably begun appearing throughout the southwestern US), each seeks absolution in his own way.
Keith Rosson is the author of the novels The Mercy of the Tide (2017, Meerkat Press) and Smoke City (2018, Meerkat Press). His short fiction has appeared in Cream City Review, PANK, Redivider, December, and more. An advocate of both public libraries and non-ironic adulation of the cassette tape, he can be found at keithrosson.com.
Smoke City
Powell's Books Best Fiction of 2018
Marvin Deitz has some serious problems. His mob-connected landlord is strong-arming him out of his storefront. His therapist has concerns about his stability. He’s compelled to volunteer at the local Children’s Hospital even though it breaks his heart every week. Oh, and he’s also the guilt-ridden reincarnation of Geoffroy Thérage, the French executioner who lit Joan of Arc’s pyre in 1431.
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