Brock Clarke duikt in zijn proza in de complexiteit van de menselijke psyche, op zoek naar betekenis in een vaak absurde wereld. Zijn kenmerkende stijl kenmerkt zich door scherpe humor en onverwachte wendingen, die de lezer aanzetten tot het bevragen van hun perceptie van de werkelijkheid. Clarke weet existentiële thema's meesterlijk te combineren met toegankelijke vertelkunst, waardoor werken ontstaan die zowel tot nadenken stemmen als boeien.
In fifteen sharply engaging essays, acclaimed novelist and short story writer Brock Clarke examines the art (and artifice) of fiction from unpredictable, entertaining, and often personal angles, positing through a slant scrutiny of place, voice, and syntax what fiction can--and can't--do
Sam Pulsifer, the hapless hero of this incendiary novel, has come to the end of a very long and unusual journey. The truth is, a lot of remarkable things have happened in Sam's life. He spent ten years in prison for accidentally burning down poet Emily Dickinson's house - and unwittingly killing two people in the process. He emerged aged twenty-eight and set about creating a new life for himself. He went to college, found love, got married, fathered two children, and made a new start - and then watched in almost-silent awe as the vengeful past caught up with him, right at his own front door. As, one by one, the homes of other famous New England writers are torched, Sam knows that this time he is most certainly not guilty. To prove his innocence, he sets out to uncover the identity of this literary-minded arsonist