Lucius Shepard writes from the darkest, truest heart of America -- not the heart of the United States or of North America, but all of America -- and he writes of it with rare passion, honesty and intelligence. His earliest stories, the ones that made his name a quarter of a century ago were set in the jungles of South America and filled with creatures dark and fantastical. Stories like "Salvador", "The Jaguar Hunter", and the excoriatingly brilliant "R&R" deconstructed war and peace in South America, in both the past and the future, like no other writer of the fantastic.

Contents:

• The Man Who Painted the Dragon Griaule
• Salvador
• A Spanish Lesson
• The Jaguar Hunter
• R&R
• The Arcevoalo
• Shades
• Delta Sly Honey
• Life of Buddha
• White Trains
• Jack's Decline
• Beast of the Heartland
• Radiant Green Star
• Only Partly Here
• Jailwise
• Hands Up! Who Wants to Die?
• Dead Money
• Stars Seen Through Stone