Off Season - Unexpurgated Hard Cover Edition by Jack Ketchum

Off Season - Unexpurgated Hard Cover Edition by Jack Ketchum

There is a curse on Point Vestal. Time moves differently in this sleepy Northwestern coastal town, where the ghosts of the past roam the streets as readily as the living inhabitants. It's still the late 19th century, and underneath the quaint touristy allure of the commingling of the past and present is a lurking darkness.

August Starling, a decadent (and dead) crime baron, has a plan for Point Vestal because the magical nature of the town is a haven for sinners fleeing judgment for their crimes. And the only residents who can stop him are newcomers to town: a defrocked Episcopalian priest and a talking cat, who is fluent in seven languages.

The Off Season is an effusive meditation on the nature of the fantastic, by a writer the Atlanta Constitution calls a lasting voice in modern American literature. Cady, winner of both the Nebula and the World Fantasy Award, has given us a consummate yarn, told with many digressions and anecdotes that combine with folksy humor to create a tall tale suffused with pathos and melancholy. (The Seattle Times)

Jack Ketchum is the pseudonym for a former actor, singer, teacher, literary agent, lumber salesman, and soda jerk. He is also a former flower child and baby boomer who figures that in 1956 Elvis, dinosaurs, and horror probably saved his life. His first novel, Off Season, prompted the Village Voice to publicly scold its publisher in print for publishing violent pornography. He personally disagrees but is perfectly happy to let you decide for yourself. His short story The Box won a 1994 Bram Stoker Award from the HWA. He has written many novels, including The Girl Next Door, Off Season, and Stranglehold. His stories are collected in The Exit at Toledo Blade Boulevard and Broken on the Wheel of Sex.