The panic hand.

Through the course of his eight unforgettable novels, Jonathan Carroll has earned comparisons to writers as diverse as Herman Hesse, Stephen King, Mark Helprin, Shirley Jackson, C. S. Lewis, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and John Milton. As this volume of shorter fiction demonstrates, however, Jonathan Carroll is one of a kind. The twenty stories collected here transmit the same intense charges of intellect and emotion that characterize Carroll's longer works. Among the many pleasures are:. "Friend's Best Man" - An award-winning story about a dog that teaches its owner the real and very frightening meaning of "The Animal Kingdom;" "Black Cocktail" - A short novel about a high-school kid who never grew up - literally;. "The Sadness of Detail" - What are we to do when contacted by angels? What are we to do when one makes an offer we can't refuse?; and. "A Flash in the Pants " - Original to this volume - a story about a beautiful stranger and a house that remembers all too well its previous owners.