Robert Boswell's extraordinary range grips us at full tilt in this crackling new collection. Set mainly in small, gritty American cities, each of these stories is a world unto itself. When two marriages end, one by death, the other divorce, the two wives, lifelong friends, become strangers to one another. A young man's obsession with visiting a fortune-teller leaves him nearly homeless. And in the unforgettable title story, a man recounts the summer he spent on a mountain with a loose band of slackers, living in a borrowed house, abstaining from all drugs (other than mushrooms and beer) - and ultimately asking just what kind of harm we can do to one another. Boswell's unexpectedly affecting characters and exuberant prose make The Heyday of the Insensitive Bastards a book to celebrate...ROBERT BOSWELL is the author of five novels, most recently Century's Son; two previous short-story collections; and a collection of essays, The Half-Known World: On Writing Fiction. He teaches creative writing at New Mexico State University, the University of Houston, and in the Warren Wilson College MFA Program.