Dirt angel

the long version

An electrifying collection of stories, Dirt Angel is informed by an original voice from the urban landscape of cross-over culture. The negotiations between lovers, lifestyles, friends, races, siblings, find their place on these pages in highly charged and authentic ways. In the title story, a self-made young woman from the projects attempts to rescue a once affluent former cheerleader-turned-junkie; a sensual, reckless psychological adventurer provokes her lover into assaulting and eventually killing her ("Tryst"); a dropout debutante, bereaved by the loss of her mother, identifies with a Vietnam War hero about to be executed for murder ("Survivors"); and a homeless woman experiences the enormous act of parenting in a particularly bizarre fashion ("The Shopper"). In "The Company We Keep," a young woman encounters, through her new lover, the shocking arrogance of an elite artistic world.