{"product_id":"dangerous-laughter-book-steven-millhauser-9780307387479","title":"Dangerous Laughter","description":"\u003cb\u003eFrom the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of \u003ci\u003eMartin Dressler\u003c\/i\u003e--hailed by \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e as \"a virtuoso of waking dreams\"--comes a dazzling collection of darkly comic stories united by their obsession with obsession.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \"Remarkable ... Not just brilliant but prescient.\" --\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e In \u003ci\u003eDangerous Laughter\u003c\/i\u003e, Steven Millhauser transports us to unknown universes that uncannily resemble our own.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e The collection is divided into three parts that fit seamlessly together as a whole. It opens with a bang, as \"Cat 'n' Mouse\" reimagines the deadly ritual between cartoon rivals in a comedy of dynamite and anvils--a masterly prologue that sets the stage for the alluring, very grown-up twists that follow.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Part one, \"Vanishing Acts,\" features stories of risk and escape: a lonely woman disappears without a trace; a high school boy becomes entangled with his best friend's troubled sister; and a group of teenagers play a treacherous game that pushes them deep into \"the kingdom of forbidden things.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Excess reigns in the vivid, haunting places of Part two's \"Impossible Architectures,\" where domes enclose whole cities, and a king's master miniaturist creates objects so tiny that soon his entire world is invisible.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Finally, \"Heretical Histories\" presents startling alternatives to the remembered past. \"A Precursor of the Cinema\" proposes a new, enigmatic form of illusion. And in the astonishing \"The Wizard of West Orange\" a famous inventor sets out to simulate the sense of touch--but success brings disturbing consequences.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Sensual, mysterious, \u003ci\u003eDangerous Laughter\u003c\/i\u003e is a mesmerizing journey through brilliantly realized labyrinths of mortal pleasures that stretch the boundaries of the ordinary world to their limits--and occasionally beyond.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49595525792017,"sku":"GOR002471352","price":42.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49990162710801,"sku":"CIN030738747XG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50312984658193,"sku":"CIN030738747XVG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51000761450769,"sku":"NIN9780307387479","price":0.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/030738747X.jpg?v=1751132916","url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-au\/products\/dangerous-laughter-book-steven-millhauser-9780307387479","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}