{"product_id":"the-giveaway-the-clay-blackburn-story-9798887441030","title":"The Giveaway: The Clay Blackburn Story","description":"\u003cp\u003eClay Blackburn--poet, book scout, and sometimes detective--cruises the mean, and sometimes not so mean, streets of Berkeley. With his accomplices, a soldier of fortune, a \"defrocked\" FBI agent, and a smooth and sexy con man, he lives a life of bisexual sensation with a little crime solving on the side. As such, Blackburn is a sly, witty, and more or less reliable raconteur of the last thirty something years of the Bay Area's radical bohemia and bookselling. And in the tradition of Ian Rankin's Edinburgh, and Jean-Claude Izzo's Marseilles, bears uncomfortable witness to Berkeley's descent from countercultural paradise to neoliberal inferno.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThis omnibus collection collects the novels \u003ci\u003eThe Chandler Apartments\u003c\/i\u003e (2002), \u003ci\u003eThe Incredible Double \u003c\/i\u003e(2010), and the previously unpublished \u003ci\u003eMayakovsky's Bugatti\u003c\/i\u003e (2025), and includes the Blackburn short story \"Righteous Kill\" (2021).\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"Yet the more we get to know him, the more we're persuaded Blackburn is a Pure Product of Berkeley. He's not only queer, but a queer sort of all else he declares himself to be: a queer sort of detective, a queer sort of Communist or Anarchist, and beyond--a queer sort of gourmet, ethical thinker, cat owner, and--for certain--a queer sort of narrator.\"--Jonathan Lethem, from the Foreword\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLethem, Jonathan:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eJonathan Lethem\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of numerous books including \u003ci\u003eThe Fortress of Solitude\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eMotherless Brooklyn\u003c\/i\u003e, as well as more recent best sellers, \u003ci\u003eThe Feral Detective\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Arrest\u003c\/i\u003e. Several of his novels have been made into major movies, and his shorter works can often be found in the \u003ci\u003eNew Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e, the \u003ci\u003eAtlantic\u003c\/i\u003e, and many other venues. One of the MacArthur \"genius\" grant winners, Lethem is well known and widely respected for his vivid literary style, sardonic humor, and deep understanding of American culture.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eHill, Owen:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eOwen Hill\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of three crime novels, two books of short fiction, and many collections of poetry. He coannotated and edited \u003ci\u003eThe Annotated Big Sleep\u003c\/i\u003e (Vintage Crime), and coedited \u003ci\u003eBerkeley Noir\u003c\/i\u003e (Akashic Books). He was a buyer at Moe's Books in Berkeley for many years, and now is a union organizer for the Industrial Workers of the World. He lives in Oakland.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"PM Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51298594291986,"sku":"9798887441030","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_4ffc0ac5-5129-4cee-925e-3331344cf14c.jpg?v=1747828993","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-giveaway-the-clay-blackburn-story-9798887441030","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}