Soft Skull Press Garbage Times/White Ibis: Two Novellas

"From the freezing alleys of Chicago to the dew-blanketed bayou of Florida. From bouncing drunks and cleaning up puke to biking through the swamp laughing at peacocks. Freeze to thaw. Filth and broken glass and black water backed up in showers; lizards and Girl Scouts and themed birthday parties. A baby rat freed from the bottom of a dumpster becomes a white ibis wandering the wet driveway after a storm. Goodbye, hello, goodbye. It was the garbage times; it was time for something else. A tale of two tales, connected by a mysterious sunlit portal" -- The basement was filthy. There was garbage all over.Any job I’d ever had involved garbage. I had been, and always would be, a garbageman. And yes, I took great pride in my garbage pedigree.It was my calling.My very meaning.Something dripped on my head. I touched my head.Thick, dark-green gel on my hand—like pureed spinach.Oh hello!I was just talking about you to someone! The stories in this collection take us on a journey to the rat-infested dive bars, restaurant kitchens, and alleys of Sam Pink’s Chicago. Here our protagonist stacks kegs and cleans up puke. He unclogs toilets and breaks up fights. He fantasizes about killing his landlord. He impersonates a doctor to adopt a kitten. He has exact change for a sports drink. He watches a car wreck and eats a burrito. A pigeon eats a cigarette butt. A sandwich maker scratches himself with the tip of a knife. Welcome to the garbage times, where you best just shut the hell up and do what you have to do. Many writers are called original; Sam Pink is one for whom the term is beyond dispute. The stories in The Garbage Times take readers on a funny, despairing, raw, ecstatic journey to the rat-infested dive bars, restaurant kitchens, and alleys of Chicago. Autorid: Sam Pink