This collection of short stories, which was awarded the 2007 Jefferson Press prize for Best New Voice in Fiction, explores the milieu of what post-Katrina New Orleans residents have come to call "the isle of denial"—a resilient and intact sliver of civilization surrounded by a sea of devastation. Evoking the comic grotesque legacy of Flannery O'Connor and John Kennedy Toole, these pieces inhabit a variety of piquant souls, including a Creole spinster, a transvestite plumber, a gambler who makes prosthetic eyes, a food critic who winds up with a mouthful of his best friend's ashes, and a grief-stricken young woman who sneaks a clock radio into her boyfriend's casket. They share a common trait of perverse denial in the face of historic or private defeat. Each story provides a window into aspects of the city and its’ captivating neighborhoods while tendering startling revelations on elemental themes of death, sex, and restoration.

James Nolan is a poet and regular contributor to Boulevard, and his work has appeared in The Georgia Review, The North American Review, Shenandoah, The Southern Review, The Washington Post, and other publications. He is the author of two poetry collections, What Moves Is Not the Wind and Why I Live in the Forest, and translator of the poetry of Pablo Neruda and Jaime Gil de Biedma. He currently directs the Loyola University–New Orleans Writing Institute. He lives in New Orleans.