This remarkable first novel, written in clean, vivid prose by David Theis, leads the reader through an exotic labyrinth as the protagonist, Daniel, attempts to understand the irrational acts that have shaped his life.

Dan, a photographer, has traveled to a teaching job in Mexico with his beautiful mixed-race wife and young daughter, hoping to find a new life following her marital infidelity and his responding botched suicide attempt. Instead, he discovers a complex, secretive world of casual violence and moral insubstantiality.

When his wife leaves him for the wealthy patron...

The fifth in the "Literary Cities" series, "Literary Houston" gathers together historical and contemporary writing about this Texas city that everyone loves to hate. Rather than organize the pieces chronologically, Editor David Theis has assembled works according to themes such as biography and memoir; visitors; the city itself; events; poetry; and fiction. From Cabeza de Vaca's early experiences to the Enron debacle, Theis presents Houston in a new, critical light.
After the Battle of San Jacinto, perhaps no one but the Allen brothers, land speculators from New York, could have imagined...