An exceptional new collection of short stories by Percival Everett, author of the highly praised and wickedly funny novel "Erasure" "People are just naturally hopeful, a term my grandfather used to tell me was more than occasionally interchangeable with stupid." A cop, a cowboy, several fly fishermen, and a reluctant romance novelist inhabit these revealing and often hilarious stories. An old man ends up in a high-speed car chase with the cops after stealing the car that blocks the garbage bin at his apartment building. A stranger gets a job at a sandwich shop and fixes everything in sight: a manual mustard dispenser, a mouthful of crooked teeth, thirty-two parking tickets, and a sexual-identity problem. Percival Everett is a master storyteller who ingeniously addresses issues of race and prejudice by simultaneously satirizing and celebrating the human condition. Percival Everett is the author of several books, including "Erasure," "Glyph," "Frenzy," "Zulus," "Big Picture," "American Desert," "Cutting Lisa," and "Watershed." He teaches at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. A cop, a cowboy, several fly fisherman, and even a reluctant romance novelist inhabit these revealing and often amusing short stories. In one story, an old man ends up in a high-speed chase with the cops after stealing the car that blocks the garbage bin at his apartment building. In another, a stranger gets a job at a sandwich shop and fixes everything in sight: a manual mustard dispenser, a mouthful of crooked teeth, thirty-two parking tickets, and a sexual-identity problem. Throughout "Damned If I Do," we find that Percival Everett is a master storyteller who ingeniously addresses issues of identity and prejudice by simultaneously satirizing and celebrating the human condition. "It's hard to pigeonhole Percival Everett. Working between the traditions of the academy and the African American tall tale, he writes with a sharp satirical voice."--"Playboy" "Everett is a genius. He's a brilliant writer and so damn smart I envy him."--Terry McMillan