{"product_id":"9780595416295","title":"The Old Man and the Bird and Other Fictions: [pleasant and unpleasant]","description":"Six dark fictions with a cosmic scope and a delirious immediacy, these shorter pieces (2 novellas and 4 one-acts) are an aspect of Swartz's gift many will find welcome, others hugely unsettling. \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Old Man and the Bird, \u003c\/i\u003e the concluding sequence of a befuddled Harry Ricci, could be taken as a \"neo-conservatively-grotesque\" parable. From there it is a short stroll to Burt Spew in \"Snappers,\" a madcap Armageddon of its own and parody of \"Jaws.\" \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWe have as well such oddities as \"The Damnation of Winston Pollock,\" the saga of a disgruntled software wizard; \"The Gift Horse and the Gift,\" the comic swan song of a disaffected shooter; \"Off the Record,\" the threnody of \"a pedophilic trans-racial hip hop\" composer; and \"Clippers,\" the outcry of a small-town American sub-literate, a latter-day, testosterone-laden barber \"waiting for [his] Godot.\" \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAll told, these tales are abundant reminder that it was possible to laugh before 9\/11, and to chuckle, even roar, long after, en route to our current Abu Ghraibs or Guantanamos. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"iUniverse, Incorporated","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48466397626609,"sku":"9780595416295","price":16.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0674\/5433\/7265\/files\/9780595416295_p0.jpg?v=1785643084","url":"https:\/\/shop.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780595416295","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble","version":"1.0","type":"link"}