The Ballad of Dingus Magee

Although best known today for his singular, stunning "anti–novels" dazzlingly conjured from anecdotes, quotes, and small thoughts, in his early days David Markson paid the rent by writing punchy, highly dramatic fictions. On the heels of a new double edition of his steamy noirs and comes a new edition of his 1965 classic whose subtitle — "Immortal True Saga of the Most Notorious and Desperate Bad Man of the Olden Days, his Blood–Shedding, his Ruination of Poor Helpless Females, & Cetera" — gives readers a hint of the raucous sensibility at work here. Brimming with blasphemy, bullets, and bordellos, this hilarious tale, which inspired the Frank Sinatra movie shows the early Markson at his outrageous best, taking down, as put it, "the breeches of the Old West and blast[ing] what's exposed with buckshot."