This collection of short stories uses death to probe the meaning of life. It introduces a man who abducts, molests, and murders young boys; a trip to Amsterdam; and a teenage rock band called Horror Hospital.

With each new novel, Dennis Cooper's reputation as the most daring and distinctive writer working in America today is cemented. To anyone familiar with this writer -- whom the New York Times calls taut, chillingly ironic, the Washington Post Book World terms brilliant, and the Village Voice deems capable of religious intensity -- it will come as no surprise that before he achieved success as a novelist, Dennis Cooper was best known as a poet. The Dream Police collects the best poems from five of his previous books and also includes a selection of new works. From his darkly erotic early verse...