An airliner breaks up over the Midwest and a casket being shipped cross country falls to earth. Two brothers discover it in a ploughed field and its occupant changes their lives forever. The dead woman, Claire, eventually becomes an exhibit in a carnival because for some unknown reason her body refuses to decompose. She also transforms the lives of a disintegrating family of three transplanted from back east. This story is by turns serious, humorous, tragic, and magical.

What do you do when your best friend's son has died and your husband has forbidden you and your teenage sons to attend the wake--the wake that turns out to be the climax of a two-year vendetta between the fathers and the total separation of the two families? Freddie Mason's Wake is about these two families-the Masons and the Carusos. Freddie Mason is a twenty-something problem child who passes away from a drug-related blood infection and whose wake is about to occur. The two-year vendetta between the families was caused by Mr. Caruso catching his teenage son Philip in bed with Laura Mason, the "little whore," as he puts it. This led to a clash between the two fathers and the separation of the two families, whose mothers had been best of friends and whose children had also been close. The novel centers on the preparations for Freddie Mason's wake and Mrs. Caruso's insistence that she and her boys need to "show our faces" and attend the wake, which would be the first time the families have been together since the clash two years ago. The novel covers the events leading up to, during, and after the wake, which turns out to be quite a memorable event for several of the participants.

The CEO of a giant Pharmaceutical Corporation has discovered that thousands of dollars worth of dangerous narcotics have gone missing from the company's warehouse, and nobody has even noticed. It's an inside job; a smuggling racket that's been in gear for years, brazenly sneaking the drugs right out through the front door. An undercover Rat is hired to pose as a worker and get to the bottom of the racket. And this he does; very quickly, he identifies the smugglers, cozies up to them, and is all set to report in and and have them busted. But his developing love for the young female member of the ring of thieves has complicated his job. Tawdry and mesmerizing, Eli the Rat is as much a commentary on greed and urgent compromise as it is a caper doomed before it begins. The characters and their circumstances may seem all too familiar and yet still pack the power to surprise even after the dust settles. Reading this book a lot like starting a new job, and finding out the truth about the American workplace after obligations and responsibilities make quitting in protest impossible. -Jane Rosenberg LaForge, author of An Unsuitable Princess: A True Fantasy/A Fantastical Memoir(Jaded Ibis Press 2014) Eli the Rat is a noirish, kaleidoscopic novel checkered with the allure of money, power, addiction, envy, and longing. Meirose's multi-perspectival storytelling evokes the turbulent lives of workers behind the scenes, churning with misfortune and misguided loyalties. -James Esch, Editor, Turk's Head Review Using clean, minimalist prose, Meirose constructs the complex dreams-and schemes-of workers stuck on the 9-to-5 wheel. This is poignant yet subtle literary fiction, offering both humor and tragedy as its characters strive for better lives outside the workplace walls. When Meirose holds up a mirror before the workaday world, we see grit in the reflection-as well as truth. -David Massengill, Author, Red Swarm With wild imagery and his masterful use of internal monologue, Meirose thrusts us in the mind-bending drug-induced madness of his characters. His words, like that which is present in so many of Eli's visions, are fire. -Corey Mingura, Editor, Arcadia Meirose is a master of interiority, with shifting points of view and meandering states of mind, the unlanguage of thought is the glue that holds his art together-and art it is. Meirose explores the thin spaces between thoughts and words, desires and deeds, motivation is his playground, duplicity his swing set, altered states the quicksand bars of his jungle gym. -Ruuf Wangerson, Author, The Pleasure Model Repairman Following in the footsteps of noir, Eli the Rat is a true tale of intrigue; about greed and vice, but also of desperation, desire, and affection. What pushes people to the lengths they go to, to survive? Meirose ponders the question, and still leaves us wanting more. -Nana K. Twumasi, Co-editor, Monday Night, A Journal of New Literature

Christine Zidar is a woman plagued by voices visions and delusions, but manages to keep her "business" together for a number of years, until she is suddenly forced to deal with the fact that her hoarder Mother with whom she lives has had their house condemned and she and Christine are forced with eviction. "There's something Jim Meirose does when he writes, and its definitely 'the hard way.' As a reader you have to earn his sentences, one after the other, to get to the bliss, the ecstasy. In this case, it's the very top of Mount Everest. In life, it's the very top of an author's skill. It's the reason I published a chapbook of his years ago and it's the reason I still still love reading him, climbing that mountain." - Christopher Bowen, author of "We Were Giants." "Flannery O'Connor and Samuel Beckett aren't dead; they're just found each other in the mind of Jim Meirose. 'Mount Everest' takes grotesqueries and near-nihilistic fetishes and pours them into a nightmare that is sometimes funny, always vivid, and unexpectedly incisive. Surreal, scary, even scorching, 'Mount Everest' is a look at our trivial ambitions and pastoral fantasies, and the dreamscapes that tell us more about reality than our waking hours ever could." - Jane Rosenberg LaForge, author of "An Unsuitable Princess" "In a house moldering in trash, a young woman wades throughher own delusions, as she earns her living being used and discarded like the refuse around her. At every turn, Meirose forces you to feel the weight of our own consumption and the need to make our world clean." - Trevor Richardson, author of "Dystopia Boy" and editor of "The Subtopian" "Meirose's Mount Everest is a truly unique and indelible work, at once haunting and insightful with a great story and insight into a troubled mind. Meirose's narrative is compassionate without necessarily championing his protagonist's pained soul and that's a neat trick. Great writing and worthy read!" Steven Gillis, author of "Benchere In Wonderland "

Jim Meirose's wild, inventive experimental prose breaks apart nearly every narrative and stylistic convention. Linguistically and formally adventurous, his work challenges all expectations about fiction. Careening, twisting, jumping, swishing, swooping, twirling madly, defying all that mainstream literature cherishes. Game 4 demands our attention and our admiration. There is nothing sacred in this work. Meirose is playing with language, syntax, form, and typography in nearly every sentence. An explosion of words and sounds that is as visually alluring as it is semantically bold and adventurous. Meirose's work recalls the perplexing, demanding, and rewarding madness of Arno Schmidt but with a swagger and daring all its own. Game 4 is a challenging, complex, and innovative work from one of today's most vital prose writers. --Joshua Martin

A dark and mysterious novel set in the swamp-ridden Back City, the story follows a cast of colourful characters as they waste their lives away unaware that a terrible catastrophe is about to befall them. Join us on a twisted gothic tale of woe and angst as the townsfolk struggle for power and life in a world that is caving in around them. Jim Meirose is an experimental novelist who has authored numerous books which really set the mind working. Jungle Swamp is no exception, and it will leave you puzzled and begging for more. A triumph of modern novel writing, this book is definitely something different to sink your teeth into and you will be well rewarded.

"Jim Meirose's Game 5 is a xenonarratif on a "heemiotrilliac pole," a "sciaticatistical" kneesljópanec on catawrit, a glitch in the antidialogical "kip't-kurrunga" which burrows into the necrosemynal "queak h ! !PID kaeuqs W gnilf ylf" with the "fununarialistical vi" of a "rekkaB-adnaK" on a "vitale statisticcommo-gluggli." This rebus in a cwabbamire is a dystopic "zolarrrrr iiii annnann e e zOL ARRiarerre" whose periphery creases the 13.787±0.020 of prīsmosourine"-Daniel Y. Harris, author of The Posthuman Series, (Volumes I-VI, BlazeVOX) "Like white noise between stations, Game 5 by Jim Meirose weaves a caustic and revelatory archway of form, an extended novelistic text with bold chordal clustered motifs and a musical syntax. Narrative stories, in sartorial fashion, are woven literally into other stories, to both block and intersect across the page. Gritty speculative dystopian space opera meets kitchen sink east-coast American realism with a skewed, shark instinct, orbiting multi-text musical bravura following a tornado. We monitor interpersonal relationships via sci-fi video games, cross-planetary bridges, popular culture figurines, workplace and bunkhouse rants, philosophical social-status musings and inner journeys exploring kinetic consciousness, hurled tropes, status games, lawn furniture, suburban madness, a politique of gnashing panache. You can read this book forward, backward, in parallel tracks; ride along its precarious arching span, a skyway over an ocean of fonts, typefaces, and searing dialogic. Built on a life of experimentation, Meirose's art is bold and inspiring, breaking with the proscenium stage of one-way transmissions, a bungee jump into polyphonic vectors of rage, a biting satirical dream walking" - Robert Frede Kenter, author of Father Tectonic (EthelZine Press, 2025). "Envision a community facing economic ruin. Follow the remaining residents' day-to-day struggles. Lay this out in plain, solid prose. Now; peel back layer after layer, exposing the entrails. Massage the inner and the outer levels into one smooth flow. "Game 5" now lies before you. Relax and enjoy"-Tom Ball, writer and chief editor (fleasonthedog)

All of these stories are defined by their location. The authors take us to familiar and unusual places in the present, future and past. They explore cityscapes and the countryside. Lives and deaths are defined by their environment. People face danger and seek safety from their surroundings. The land influences the characters in unexpected ways. The writers in this anthology have won awards and published novels. Their stories have appeared in numerous magazines. The contributions included in this book will enthrall and engage you.

"The Mission" is a poetry book based on the May through August 2012 issues (and occasional Internet chapbook releases) of cc&d magazine (byline: "the UNreligious, NON-family oriented literary and at magazine," founded 1993, http: //scars.tv/ccd) into this poetry and prose (and very occasionally artwork), published by Scars Publications. "The Mission" was released not only as an "issues edition" (of the majority of the writings appearing in issues) and a "chapbooks edition" (of the chapbook releases during this period, plus select bonus writings from the issues). This issues edition contains a larger nmber of writers, and gives a better idea for the feel of the writings in issues of cc&d magazine. The cover art of this collection book was photographed in Chicago in 2011 (and the color was changed for different editions). See http: //scrs.tv for a full list of all contributors to this collection book. Writers in this collection book inlcude Janet Kuypers, Linda Webb Aceto, W. Donta Andrews, Christine Barba, Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal, Dana Blake, P. Keith Boran, Wm. Samuel Bradford, Audrey Burns, Paul J. Burt, Michael Ceraolo, Corey Cook, Kelly K. Darrow, Holly Day, Frank De Canio, Kenneth DiMaggio, Brian Duggan, John Duncklee, Lily Gardner, Deni Ann Gereighty, Matthew Guzman, Fritz Hamilton, Don Hargraves, Joseph Hart, Kyle Hemmings, Eric W Jepson, Bob Johnston, max keanu, Seger Lansdale, Brian Looney, Robert D. Lyons, Brandon A.M., Marcin Majkowski, Bruce Matteson, Don Maurer, Jennifer McCain, Jim Meirose, Drew Nacht, Sheryl L. Nelms, John Newmark, Andrew H. Oerke, Alexander P.S., Jeffrey Park, Emily Olive Petit, S. Progress, John Rachel, I.B. Rad, Stephen V. Ramey, Yasmin Ramirez, Carl Scharwath, Rex Sexton, Derrick Sherwin, Sterling A Slechta, Bob Strother, Jane Stuart, R. N. Taber, David Thompson, Ronald M. Wade, and artwork by Peter LaBerge, the HA!man of South Africa, Cheryl Townsend, David Michael Jackson, Brian Forrest, Zanadu, Rose E. Grier, John Yotko, Nick Brazinsky, George Coston, Oz Hardwick, Aaron Wilder, Edward Michael O'Durr Supranowicz, Henry Walter Matthews, Uzeyir Lokman CAYCI, Brian Hosey and Lauren Braden, and Eric Bonholtzer.