Travis laughs loudly and says, "Christianity wouldn't even exist if Peter, Paul, Luke and John tried to write their books now. Everyone would accuse them of trying to fabricate a trend. 'Oh those Jews, they think they're just the darlings of the literary world. Well, I've read their books, and you know what? It's just the same story, over and over again -- disaffected youth rebels against his elders and gets nailed to a cross for it. Can't they come up with anything original? And now I hear they want to put a label on it -- Christianity. Dude, don't try to label me. I won't stand for it.'"

Enter the strange and pathetic world of the Chicago poetry scene in nighthawks, the new novel by Jason Pettus. Therein you will find a cast of characters too surreal to be fiction, too humorous to be true. Discover a world of dysfunction, a world of words used to mask feelings, a world of too many drugs and not enough sleep, a world of fame and fortune on the horizon but just never quite there. And on the way, maybe even discover what it's like to be a young artist in post-NEA America, a world where creativity is punished and not rewarded, and a world where one has to fight for every moment of happiness achieved.

Read an excerpt:

Nighthawks

Paying Penance for my Sins

Mason Bugs the Shit Out of Me Sometimes, But He Still Believes in Things Happening

Copyright 1998, Jason Pettus. All rights reserved.