{"product_id":"river-of-angels-stories-9798998905513","title":"River of Angels: Stories","description":"\u003cp\u003eFrom John Fante's biographer, ten stories of blood relations, family skeletons, random forces, \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eand the often-violent folly of love. Set against the double-edged splendors of greater Los \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAngeles, from downtown streets to studio soundstages to gated mansions, from\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003edesert to mountains to sea, these are stories of people striving to reckon with the American\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ehands they've been dealt in the marked-card gamble of their lives. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA stoner son heading off to fight in a war drives his mother to see the eye doctor.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA fourth-grade Catholic-school teacher, unattached, meets her match made in hell. \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDesperado artist-lovers flee the scenes of their crimes.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA stranger knocks at the front door...\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMothers and fathers, sons and daughters, husbands, wives, and roving agents of chaos collide here with sometimes comic, often tragic but always lasting effects. In story after story something happens that matters-not least to the reader.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eCooper, Stephen:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - Stephen Cooper is the author of Full of Life: A Biography of John Fante, a Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year. He has worked as a longshoreman on the docks of Los Angeles Harbor, a mule packer in the Eastern Sierra, a guard in Stockholm's subway system, and at sundry other jobs. Long a Professor of English at California State University, Long Beach, he has written and published on both literature and film. He also cowrote and produced the Netflix Original Documentary Struggle: The Life and Lost Art of Szukalski. River of Angels is his first story collection.","brand":"What Books Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51649031405842,"sku":"9798998905513","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_a8f60797-3f83-4645-86d6-f4f6e97d7bb4.jpg?v=1759843482","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/river-of-angels-stories-9798998905513","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}