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Urban legends, Las Vegas, and life in the U.S. Army are deftly
captured in these stories by novelist John Irsfeld. With imagination
bordering on the quirky or absurd, Irsfeld brings back to life a
fictional character from Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and
presents Elvis as alive and in hiding years after his reported death.
"The Marriage Auditors" brings to mind George Orwell's 1984,
only in this case it's not Big Brother watching individuals but a
team who monitor marriages and force the dissolution of those they
deem unsuccessful.
	
  Irsfeld also writes of life as he has known it. He has, for
instance, lived in the shadow of the Las Vegas Strip for years. In
the Las Vegas stories, he looks at the city and sees a playground
where little about life seems real. Tourists and residents alike
operate in the sounds and shadows of the cards, the wheels, and the
slots.

    The army stories in this book spring from Irsfeld's own
experiences in the U. S. Infantry. With a thorough and probably
hard-earned knowledge of army ways, he captures the reality of
barracks life among men who may at any time find themselves sent
to a far-off unfamiliar place called Vietnam. Several of the stories
follow one man, eventually demonstrating the effect of the army on
him when he becomes a civilian.

 Irsfeld's view of America is not one of bucolic landscapes, happy
families, or settled societies. During these times of wars and
rumors of war, his tales fit our national life and express our fears
and distractions. 

 
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JOHN IRSFELD is the author of the novels Little Kingdoms,
Coming Through, and Rat's Alley. This is his first short-story
collection. A native of Texas, Irsfeld has been on the faculty of the
University of Nevada, Las Vegas, for many years. He currently
chairs the English department.