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The first and definitive biography of one of the great American novelists of the postwar era, the author of Dog Soldiers and A Flag for Sunrise, and a penetrating critic of American power, innocence, and corruptionRobert Stone (1937-2015), probably the only postwar American writer to draw favorable comparisons to Ernest Hemingway, Graham Greene, and Joseph Conrad, lived a life rich in adventure, achievement, and inner turmoil. He grew up rough on the streets of New York, the son of a mentally troubled single mother. After his Navy service in the fifties, which brought him to such locales as pre-Castro Havana, the Suez Crisis, and Antarctica, he studied writing at Stanford, where he met Ken Kesey and became a core member of the gang of Merry Pranksters. The publication of his superb New Orleans novel, Hall of Mirrors (1967), initiated a succession of dark-humored novels that investigated the American experience in Vietnam (Dog Soldiers, 1974, which won the National Book Award), Central America (A Flag for Sunrise, 1981), and Jerusalem on the eve of the millennium (Damascus Gate, 1998).An acclaimed novelist himself, Madison Smartt Bell was a close friend and longtime admirer of Robert Stone. His authorized and deeply researched biography is both intimate and objective, a rich and unsparing portrait of a complicated, charismatic, and haunted man and a sympathetic reading of his work that will help to secure Stone's place in the pantheon of major American writers.

O Magazine's Top 20 Books to Read - Summer 2017'Best known for his acclaimed Haitian trilogy—All Souls'Rising, Master of the Crossroads and The Stone That the Builder Refused—Bell draws on his own experiences with voodoo possession to re-create his characters'descent into a sinister otherworld. The novel toys with perspective—women shape-shifting into rocks or animals; the same life-or-death scene played repeatedly, with myriad outcomes—in a kind of primal storytelling that crackles with dread and desire.'—O Magazine When Julie skips school and sets off with her best friend and some local boys for a camping trip in the desert, she finds herself the target of unwanted, drug-fueled sexual attention. Running away in fear, she takes a dangerous fall down the shaft of a vast underground cave, and it takes two days for her to be rescued. Lying unconscious in her hospital bed, Julie hovers between life and death as she travels in a seductive parallel universe inspired by remarkable cave paintings left behind by prehistoric humans. Marko, her attacker, tries to cover his tracks, menacing those who know what happened in the desert that night. Jamal, the youngest son in a family of Iraqi refugees living in Julie's small town, is one of his prime targets. He defies Marko, keeping him away from Julie's bedside and refusing to fall prey to his threats of violence. Meanwhile, Marissa, who gave Julie up for adoption fifteen years earlier when she became pregnant as an adolescent, is following an instinct that leads her back to the daughter she once abandoned. With the aid of Jamal and a local Native American hitman/shaman, she attempts to draw Julie back to consciousness. Madison Smartt Bell is best known for his trilogy of novels about Toussaint Louverture and the Haitian Revolution, including All Souls'Rising, which was a finalist for the National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award. Praise for Behind the Moon:'Madison Smartt Bell writes with the urgency of someone who just received a dire prognosis. And Behind the Moon will remind you that you are alive.'—Jonathan Safran Foer, author of Here I Am'Between fever dreams and stone hard reality, Madison Smartt Bell has crafted a powerful examination of what is and what might be. It is simply wonderful.'—Dorothy Allison, author of Bastard out of Carolina'I love these characters. I love the writing. Behind the Moon is a brilliant work.'—Percival Everett, author of Half an Inch of Water'Bell gives us this fast-paced, spiritually inspired dream-story, full of heart and hope and danger. It's adventure at its finest: a spiked drink, a desert cave, a gunshot, a mother looking for her child. Buckle in: you are headed for a terrific ride.'—Deb Olin Unferth, author of Wait Till You See Me Dance

A story collection spanning New York to Haiti and beyond from the National Book Award–finalist and author of Barking Man. Spanning twenty years, Bell's third collection of stories showcases his phenomenal literary range and his unwavering focus on characters looking in from the outside. Punks, hustlers, and lost souls of all ages and backgrounds are drawn with an exquisite eye for detail and astonishing compassion. As in the title story, many of these pieces refer to popular songs like “Fall on Me” and “Summertime,” or are centered around music (“Leadbelly in Paris”), and the settings travel the globe from New York to Paris to Haiti to London. Bell, a finalist for the 1995 National Book Award and the 1996 PEN/Faulkner Award and winner of the 1996 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for the best book of the year dealing with matters of race, once again affirms his status as one of our best writers, one “with an ear for the seemingly inaudible emotions of life” (Los Angeles Times).

La plage de Wellfleet à Cape Cod : treize nouvelles plus ou moins noires...

A powerful new novel about Nathan Bedford Forrest, the most reviled, celebrated, and legendary of Civil War generals. With the same eloquence, dramatic energy, and grasp of history that marked his award-winning fictional trilogy of the Haitian Revolution, Madison Smartt Bell now turns his gaze to America's Civil War. We see Forrest on and off the battlefield, in less familiar but no less revealing moments of his life; we see him treating his slaves humanely even as he fights to ensure their continued enslavement; we see his knack for keeping his enemy unsettled, his instinct for the unexpected, and his relentless stamina. As Devil's Dream moves back and forth in time, a vivid portrait comes into focus: a rough, fierce man with a life full of contradictions.

Mae, a blackjack dealer in a Las Vegas casino, spends her free time wandering the desert with a rifle, or sitting in her trailer obsessively watching replays of an old lover escaping the wreckage of 9/11. What she sees in those images is different from what the rest of us would see. She revels in the pure anarchy, thrills at the destruction. These images recall memories of a childhood marked by unthinkable abuse, of her drift into a cult that committed the most shocking crime of the'60s, of her life since then as a feral and wary outsider, caught in a swirl of events at once personal, political, mythic.

Continuing his epic trilogy of the Haitian slave uprising, Madison Smartt Bell's Master of the Crossroads delivers a stunning portrayal of Toussaint Louverture, former slave, military genius and liberator of Haiti, and his struggle against the great European powers to free his people in the only successful slave revolution in history. At the outset, Toussaint is a second-tier general in the Spanish army, which is supporting the rebel slaves'fight against the French. But w hen Toussaint is betrayed by his former allies and the commanders of the Spanish army, he reunites his army with the French, wresting vital territories and manpower from Spanish control. With his army one among several factions, Toussaint eventually rises as the ultimate victor as he wards off his enemies to take control of the French colony and establish a new constitution.Bell's grand, multifaceted novel shows a nation, splintered by actions and in the throes of chaos, carried to liberation and justice through the undaunted tenacity of one incredible visionary.

The Stone that the Builder Refused is the final volume of Madison Smartt Bell's masterful trilogy about the Haitian Revolution–the first successful slave revolution in history–which begins with All Souls'Rising (a finalist for the National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award) and continues with Master of the Crossroads. Each of these three novels can be read independently of the two others; of the trilogy, The Baltimore Sun has said, “[It] will make an indelible mark on literary history–one worthy of occupying the same shelf as Tolstoy's War and Peace.”

At the end of the 1700s, French Saint Domingue was the richest and most brutal colony in the Western Hemisphere. A mere twelve years later, however, Haitian rebels had defeated the Spanish, British, and French and declared independence after the first—and only—successful slave revolt in history. Much of the success of the revolution must be credited to one man, Toussaint Louverture, a figure about whom surprisingly little is known. In this fascinating biography, Madison Smartt Bell, award-winning author of a trilogy of novels that investigate Haiti's history, combines a novelist's passion with a deep knowledge of the historical milieu that produced the man labeled a saint, a martyr, or a clever opportunist who instigated one of the most violent events in modern history. The first biography in English in over sixty years of the man who led the Haitian Revolution, this is an engaging reexamination of the controversial, paradoxical leader.

Sophisticated suspense from a National Book Award finalist, about a hypnotist tormented by insomnia and a hunt for a killer: “Excellent…revelatory writing.”—The Washington Post Book WorldAdrian Strother is a hypnotherapist who, paradoxically, can't get to sleep. He's left New York to ply his trade in a depressed section of London, treating phobias and addictions and doing the occasional job for Scotland Yard. That aspect of his work is about to get him involved with the case of a serial killer who targets little girls, as he treads the line between tortured wakefulness and surreal sleep, wrestling with his own demons and fighting to keep his past at a distance. Now the gifts of his cursed insomnia will be called upon to unlock the secrets of a man who believes he has discovered the key to immortality. Part spiritual pilgrimage, part psychological thriller, Doctor Sleep is witty, menacing, and “a rip-roaring good read” (Los Angeles Times).“A wonderfully inventive novel in the genre of the hard-boiled detective story, with metaphysical overtones…a poetic thriller, perfectly orchestrated, beautifully written, reverberant and entertaining.”—The Baltimore Sun

With a writer's keen eye, a longtime resident's familiarity, and his own sly wit, acclaimed novelist Madison Smartt Bell leads us on a walk through his adopted hometown of Baltimore, a city where crab cakes, Edgar Allan Poe, hair extensions, and John Waters movies somehow coexist. From its founding before the Revolutionary War to its place in popular culture—thanks to seminal films like Barry Levinson's Diner, the television show Homicide, and bestselling books by George Pelecanos and Laura Lippman—Baltimore is America, and in Charm City, Bell brings its story to vivid life. First revealing how Baltimore received some of its nicknames—including “Charm City”—Bell sets off from his neighborhood of Cedarcroft and finds his way across the city's crossroads, joined periodically by a host of fellow Baltimoreans. Exploring Baltimore's prominent role in history (it was here that Washington planned the battle of Yorktown and Francis Scott Key witnessed the “bombs bursting in air”), Bell takes us to such notable spots as the Inner Harbor and Federal Hill, as well as many of the undiscovered corners that give Baltimore its distinctive character. All the while, Charm City sheds deserved light onto a sometimes overlooked, occasionally eccentric, but always charming place.

'A serious historical novel that reads like a dream.'--The Washington Post Book World'One of the most spohisticated fictional treatments of the enduring themes of class, color, and freedom.'--San Francisco ChronicleNATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALISTPEN/FAULKNER AWARD FINALIST This first installment of the epic Haitian trilogy brings to life a decisive moment in the history of race, class, and colonialism. The slave uprising in Haiti was a momentous contribution to the tide of revolution that swept over the Western world at the end of the 1700s. A brutal rebellion that strove to overturn a vicious system of slavery, the uprising successfully transformed Haiti from a European colony to the world's first Black republic. From the center of this horrific maelstrom, the heroic figure of Toussaint Louverture–a loyal, literate slave and both a devout Catholic and Vodouisant–emerges as the man who will take the merciless fires of violence and vengeance and forge a revolutionary war fueled by liberty and equality. Bell assembles a kaleidoscopic portrait of this seminal movement through a tableau of characters that encompass black, white, male, female, rich, poor, free and enslaved. Pulsing with brilliant detail, All Soul's Rising provides a visceral sense of the pain, terror, confusion, and triumph of revolution.

A Vietnam vet returns to rural Tennessee in this acclaimed novel from the National Book Award–nominated author of Save Me, Joe Louis. After the horrors of Vietnam, Thomas Laidlaw returns to his home in rural Tennessee where he spends his days raising sheep and growing vegetables. At night he likes to roam the quiet countryside and practice his banjo, revelling in the roots music he finds so grounding. Over time, he resumes his friendship with Rodney Redmon, a fellow vet and childhood friend scarred not only by the wages of war, but also by the deep wounds of racism. As the two friends piece together a new life as civilians, they also piece together a band with the addition of a fiddler. Through a masterful accumulation of details, Bell brings his story to a fever pitch, concluding in “an unexpected, if powerful, finale” (Publishers Weekly). “This important, insightful novel” (Library Journal) proves once again that “every sentence [Bell] writes is a joy. His power is exhilarating” (The New Yorker). “Bell's impressive talents as a writer, which include endowing settings with the significance of character, and a patient, compassionate probing of injured souls, are on full display.” —Publishers Weekly

From the National Book Award–finalist: This “brilliant” story collection exploring the lives of dispossessed Americans is “one of his best achievements” (The Washington Post). Thematically focused on hard-luck characters trapped by desperate circumstances, Bell once again showcases his range and versatility in these eleven deeply felt stories. Whether in the Deep South or the grim Northeast; burdened with unspoken hurts or challenged by the harsh vicissitudes of contemporary life, Bell's characters are drawn with clear-eyed compassion and dignity. But even in their gritty realism, moments of redemption or hopefulness elevate each of these memorable stories. And when the setting moves into the Great Plains during the nineteenth century, Bell convincingly connects the past to the present, hinting at his later acclaim as a historical novelist. Zero db stands as a timeless collection of “sagacious and lucid short stories by a contemporary writer with an ear for the seemingly inaudible emotions of life” (Los Angeles Times).

An American film editor is caught up in Europe's drug underworld in a “spare and cinematic” character study by the award-winning author of Soldier's Joy (Time). Tracy Bateman eeks out a meager existence as a freelance film editor. Other than alcohol, his closest companion is a dog dying of cancer. And his wife, Lauren, is off with his friend Kevin, who's also his occasional employer. Prospects are grim, but on the day Tracy decides to relieve his dog of his misery, Kevin calls with a job offer. The pay is double what it should be and would take him to Rome. Tracy suspects there's a side job involving drugs, something he and Kevin have dabbled in before with minimal success. But when Lauren shows up with a suitcase full of cash, he sends her home and decides to finish the job on his own. It will take all of his skill to not end up on the cutting floor. Praised by Walker Percy as “not only high entertainment, but high pleasure to read,” Straight Cut is a “winning novel” that further cements Bell's acclaimed literary reputation (Time).

An “exhilirating” novel of domestic terrorism in the gritty streets of 1980s New York from the National Book Award–finalist and author of Straight Cut (The New Yorker). As a staff photographer at Bellevue hospital in Manhattan, Clarence Dmitri Larkin is exposed to the fraying underbelly of New York City. Drawn in by the stories of the sick, the lost, and the insane, Larkin's own dark impulses lead him through the streets of Brooklyn's shadowy warehouse district. Increasingly isolated from the world around him, Larkin falls in with a disturbed cell of outcasts. Their ringleader, empowered by confused visions of grandeur and revolution, launches an outlandish scheme to plant an atomic bomb in the catacombs under Times Square. Narrated with unsettling plausibility, Bell's debut novel demonstrates the remarkable literary skill celebrated in his later novels, such as Soldier's Joy and The Year of Silence. With “real brilliance... full of fire... Bell provides promise: promise of his own talent and promise that young American writers are not all retreating from ‘big'subjects” (The New York Times). “Every sentence [Bell] writes is a joy. His power is exhilarating.” —The New Yorker

The National Book Award–finalist movingly examines the lives of a group of New Yorkers deeply affected by one woman's troubled life—and death. Marian is haunted by an unspoken past reflected in the choices she makes. Whether it's her drug addiction or her dubious affairs, she finds herself increasingly adrift and alone. Yet in a city of millions, her story plays a part in the lives of others. Jaded cops who register Marian at a glance, a lover who agonizes over her abortion, a close friend stunned by her tragic overdose, a panhandling dwarf making the rounds in her Upper West Side neighborhood—each story weaves back and forth through time, revealing a compelling, compassionate portrait of one woman's tragic fate. In a novel whose “structure combines delicacy and great tensile strength... Bell's voice is increasingly diverse, accurate and, in this book of mourning, powerfully moving” (Publishers Weekly). One of America's finest storytellers shows once again that he is a writer of “superb command” (The New York Times).

A “brave, accomplished and utterly compelling” short story collection from the National Book Award–finalist author of Zig Zag Wanderer (Kirkus Reviews). Deploying a seemingly unlimited range of subject and setting, Bell's latest collection of stories are as inventive as they are revelatory. From a monastic Chinese mouse who ponders his lot in life to the aching frustrations of a former drug addict attempting to connect to her son, Bell continues to refine his renowned craft on the characters who fall under his compassionate gaze. Drawn by Bell's command of language and voice, readers follow his cast of characters from Manhattan to the French Riviera to the American South to London, where the homeless, the barking mad, and the everyday saints are all revealed as unforgettably human in these sometimes poignant, sometimes devastating stories. “The world these 10 stories conjure is a shifty, dangerous place, requiring of its inhabitants small acts of daily heroism....A humane and mature book, the work of an important and talented writer.” —The New York Times Book Review “Presents a crystal-clear vision of humanity that disturbs and intrigues.” —Library Journal

Two small-time thieves get in over their heads in this literary thriller from the “virtuoso novelist” and author of Soldier's Joy (The Philadelphia Inquirer). Not quite at home in the backwoods of Tennessee, and even less suited for the service, drifter Macrae lands on his feet in New York City in the 1980s. There, he teams up with a petty thief named Charlie, and the two hit on a scheme to rob people withdrawing money at ATMs. Caught up by their surprising success, they move on to bigger crimes. But as Macrae feels a growing discomfort with the increasing violence and danger of their hardscrabble existence, he wonders if he's in too deep to make a clean break. With a tightly orchestrated and harrowing conclusion from “one of our most talented novelists... This meticulously observed story nevertheless grips us with its lucid prose, its keen psychological insights and the author's respect for his troubled characters” (Publishers Weekly). “A remarkable read.” —The New York Times Book Review “Bell seems to know intimately the seedy sides of New York, Baltimore and the ex-urban south of housing developments and shopping centers abutting old, dying farms. He renders each locale exquisitely and seems as familiar with street jive as redneck vernacular.” —Los Angeles Times “Ripe for translation to the silver screen.” —Library Journal