{"product_id":"saint-sebastians-abyss-9781566896368","title":"Saint Sebastian's Abyss","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"What I wanted more than anything was to be standing beside Schmidt, in concert with Schmidt, at the foot of \u003cem\u003eSaint Sebastian's Abyss\u003c\/em\u003e along with Schmidt, hands cupped to the sides of our faces, debating art, transcendence, and the glory of the apocalypse.\"\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eFormer best friends who built their careers writing about a single work of art meet after a decades-long falling-out. One of them, called to the other's deathbed for unknown reasons by a \"relatively short\" nine-page email, spends his flight to Berlin reflecting on Dutch Renaissance painter Count Hugo Beckenbauer and his masterpiece, \u003ci\u003eSaint Sebastian's Abyss, \u003c\/i\u003e the work that established both men as important art critics and also destroyed their relationship. A darkly comic meditation on art, obsession, and the enigmatic power of friendship, \u003ci\u003eSaint Sebastian's Abyss\u003c\/i\u003e stalks the museum halls of Europe, feverishly seeking salvation, annihilation, and the meaning of belief. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eMark Haber is the author of the 2008 story collection \u003ci\u003eDeathbed Conversions\u003c\/i\u003e and the novel \u003ci\u003eReinhardt's Garden\u003c\/i\u003e, longlisted for the 2020 PEN\/Hemingway Award. He is the operations manager at Brazos Bookstore in Houston, Texas. His nonfiction has appeared in the \u003ci\u003eRumpus\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eMusic \u0026amp; Literature, \u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eLitHub\u003c\/i\u003e. His fiction has appeared in \u003ci\u003eSouthwest Review\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eAir\/Light\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Coffee House Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50635351720210,"sku":"9781566896368","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_ed1f7f2d-fc66-4eeb-b3f4-f141c4aeead9.jpg?v=1732841337","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/saint-sebastians-abyss-9781566896368","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}