ExhilaratingIn this lyrical tale of the 1980's, the City of Roses is an enchanted realm in which Sparky, a fledgling writer, meets Mustang Sally, a pole-dancing cowgirl. The torrents of first love, swelled by the extravagant joy of writing, engulf the young man. HilariousIn the wry, ribald, and raucous story within the story, Sparky and Mustang Sally meet P. T. Barnum the Fifth, a superannuated hippie with the pedigree and soul of a circus ringmaster. They enlist in his scheme to stage an epic poetry slam featuring the infamous poet Wild Bill Ruckman. Dubbed the Big Bang, the event morphs into a Second Coming. Delightful Along the way we encounter a veritable Whitman's Sampler of engaging characters, including: RaUl, the Cuban barber with a Hemingway cat for sale; Mr. Chu's venerable mother, a poet in an ancient tradition; Bo, the Sapphic stripper seeking vengeance and healing; Cleopatra Culpeper, the would-be franchise queen of soul food; the Belles REves, twin brothers resolved to inhabit the persona of Blanche DuBois; and, of course, the swashbuckling maverick Wild Bill, not to mention his busty nemesis, Godzilla. Refreshing and InspiringBrimming with passion and humor, Jambalaya offers every reader a respite from contemporary fiction's litany of griefs and morbidities, and not a few will find in these pages an irresistible incitement to write.