The Black Heart

Introduction by James Morrow. Cover art by Ben Baldwin.

The Black Heart is a collection of Patrick O'Leary's newest stories. Here you will find aliens and apocalypses, God and Satan, witches and geishas, madonnas and mutes, birds and bears, zoos and prisons, weeping robots and knights who work in hardware, pardons and orgasms, men without legs and aliens without hearts. In short, pretty much your standard O'Leary stash...

"Funny and moving... a distinctive new voice in the field." – San Francisco Chronicle

"Zany, serious, unclassifiable and delightful." – Kathleen Ann Goonan

"Luminous and constantly surprising." – Locus

"Read (it) while you still have the mind it is guaranteed to blow." – James Morrow

Contents:

• Introduction: Patrick O'Leary's Muffled Prayers by James Morrow
• Author's Introduction: The Bears in the Moat
• The Cane
• Catching a Dream
• Yo-Yo, Stradivarius & Me
• The Black Heart
• The Dreaming Bird
• The Whole Schmear
• What Mattered Was Sleep
• The Witch’s Hand
• The Verge of a Pucker
• The Me After the Rock
• The Flying Child
• The Wooden Leg
• The Bearing of Light
• The Oldest Man on Earth