Hangman S Dozen

William E. Wallace is serving up bare-knuckle stories in old-school style. Superstitious criminals down on their luck, junkies with trigger fingers, mysterious drifters-these are the kind of characters you'll meet in this collection of lurid tales. "(Wallace) is a master at building scenes, characters, layering dialogue and description, and filling in back-story with no interruption to the momentum of the story." Greg Barth, author of Selena and Diesel Therapy "The best of William E. Wallace's work revolves around the concept of justice. . . I'm talking the big, broader cosmic sense. Judgment. Reckoning. Down in the filth and garbage of the street, it's all street justice." Joe Clifford, author of Lamentation and December Boys "It is not easy to combine humor, characterization, and persuasive action but here it's done well. These stories will make you a Wallace fan." Patti Abbott, author of Concrete Angel "Wallace is quite simply a brilliant writer." Will Viharo author of Love Stories Are Too Violent for Me

Through a variety of activities ranging from pulling weeds in Delta asparagus and sugar beet fields to playing hang tag during a two-a-day summer football practices on Delta bridges, Curtis shares vivid experiences with the reader that the Delta and the San Joaquin Valley offer. All is not simply fun and games in Curtis' rite of passage as he becomes aware of the profound impact that water holds on his family and environment of the state of California. Through personal experiences, Curtis shares basic facts with the reader such as the following: it takes five gallons of water for a walnut to reach market; a levee is reinforced with junked cars for eight miles to save the agricultural fields; or there is only one river in the U.S that has not been dammed, the Yellowstone. Through the supportive, enlivened narrative of his family, friends, and acquaintances, Curtis weaves a compelling story that includes his establishing a school for challenged youth. As the main character, Lou, processes the gathered information, Lou takes a radical stand to confront the abuses that impact our socioeconomic culture. The novel culminates in a violent conclusion, to which the reader is asked, "What would you do?"