Published by Secker & Warburg, London; 1996. 8vo. 242pp. First edition, first impression. Condition: Fine/Fine
Bound in original navy cloth boards with title in gilt to the spine. The binding is square and tight, with no marks or damage to speak of, save a touch of bumping to the spine ends. Inside, the pages are clean and bright, free from blemishes and wear, with just a little toning to the edges.
The book is housed in its original, first issue dust jacket, which is in equally smart condition. It is vibrant and bright, with no damage and barely a hint of bumping to the spine ends. In all, a very smart example of this jacket.
This is a lovely example of this first edition of this collection of 40 short stories by the award-winning playwright, author, actor, director and screenwriter, Sam Shepard. Written with the terse lyricism that has become his trademark, Shepard's tales are at once acts of personal revelation and signposts to an American landscape shaped by violence, loss and regret. Comprised of short stories, selections from an actor's diary and dialogues that are at once cryptic and utterly mesmerising, Cruising Paradise presents its author's singular vision of ancestry and childhood, sexual passion and betrayal, family and fame, in a voice that is as spare and chiselled as an Arizona mesa, as haunting as a train whistle in the night, as quintessentially American as a forties jazz song (blurb).