Mark Poirier

Ellis is fourteen. His parents have split up - Mom's gone New Age in Tucson with some asshole abstract artist; and Dad - Fucker Frank, is sporting nerdy glasses and retailing Mexican knick-knacks to Washington wannabes. Ellis is about to start at a squaresville boarding-school. It's your standard dysfunctional family thing ... Except that...

The weather is hotter than hell in Tucson, Arizona, and weird things are afoot in the crumbling desert community of Rancho Sin Vacas. Sixteen-year-old Kendra hones her muscles and grapples with bad grammar, occasionally worrying about her brother, Thomas, who spends all day watching wrestling on TV. Their neighbour Merv is stuck in a rut, still...

Sad, funny and perverse - the characters in these short stories are as diverse as the face of modern America. Set in Arizona, the trailer-park dwellers, crystal-reading gurus and disaffected teenagers show that Arizonians have their own way of coping with the emotional connections that shape lives....

Worm farms, pearl-button making, chicken processing, pornography, and beauty pageantry. These quirky cottage industries hold the potential to make fortunes, though it's more likely that they'll lead to bankruptcy and shattered dreams. Mark Poirier introduces the misfits and visionaries who embody the aspirations - and frequently the...