Percival Everett

Thelonius "Monk" Ellison is an erudite, accomplished but seldom-read author who insists on writing obscure literary papers rather than the so-called "ghetto prose" that would make him a commercial success. He finally succumbs to temptation after seeing the Oberlin-educated author of We's Lives in da Ghetto during her appearance on a talk show, firing back with a parody called My Pafology, which he submits to his startled agent under the gangsta pseudonym...

"Zach Wells, a laconic geologist-slash-paleobiologist, has the trappings of a comfortable life, yet is not contented. He's expert in the geological history of a cave in the Grand Canyon, but less so where his wife and daughter are concerned. And when his daughter develops unusual vision problems and has a seizure, the world of this family of three crumbles. Powerless in the face of his daughter's slow deterioration, Wells finds a note asking for help...

"When a pair of detectives from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation arrive to investigate a series of brutal murders in the rural town of Money, they meet expected resistance from the local sheriff, his deputy, the coroner, and a string of racist White townsfolk. The murders present a puzzle, for at each crime scene there is a second dead body: that of a man who resembles Emmett Till. The detectives suspect that these are killings of retribution,...

Suder, Percival Everett's acclaimed first novel, follows the exploits and ordeals of Craig Suder, a struggling black third baseman for the Seattle Mariners. In the midst of a humiliating career slump and difficulties with his demanding wife and troubled son, Suder packs up his saxophone, phonograph, and Charlie Parker's Ornithology and begins a personal crusade for independence, freedom, and contentment. This ambitious quest takes Suder on a series...

Ogden Walker, deputy sheriff of a small New Mexico town, is on the trail of an old woman's murderer. But at the crime scene, his are the only footprints leading up to and away from her door. Something is amiss, and even his mother knows it. As other cases pile up, Ogden gives chase, pursuing flimsy leads for even flimsier reasons. His hunt leads him from the seamier side of Denver to a hippie commune as he seeks the puzzling solution.

"Kevin Pace's latest painting, like so much of his past, remains a secret. Ten years ago, he had an affair with a young watercolorist in Paris. And in the late 1970s, he traveled to El Salvador to search for his best friend's brother, a minor drug dealer gone missing in a country on the verge of war. When the past begins to resurface, Kevin struggles to justify the sacrifices he's made for his art and the secrets he's kept from his wife and family"...

Three cowhands chase and corral ones in this zany book about the Wild West.

"The Jefferson Bible" or "The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth" as it was originally entitled is an extraction of biblical passages constructed by Thomas Jefferson sometime around 1819. In an 1803 letter Jefferson remarks that he first conceived of the idea of writing his interpretation of the "Christian System" sometime during 1788-89. He first accomplishes it in a more limited fashion in 1804 with "The Philosophy of Jesus of Nazareth" which...