Edge City

A thinly veiled portrait of San Francisco’s North Beach is the setting of this novel, and its newest resident is Reno, an angry fledgling just hatched out of prison. Getting out is like a weird dream, and the streets of the city are a muddle of sensations pooling around her. Staggering out onto the late-night streets, Reno ends up at the infamous Istanbul Club: dim lights, Arabic music, and sensual Su’ad dancing. She soon encounters the club’s cast of characters. There’s Huntington, the poisonous charmer who lives above the club and is perverse and powerful in the way only the wealthy can be, and Eddie, the underage bartender who is happy to chemically enhance every waking moment. Slowmotion, the sound and light technician, huge and darkly mysterious, has connections to people and places that Reno didn’t even know existed. Slowmotion’s elegant friend, Poppy, offers mental transport to realms beyond Xanadu; in her little valise there’s everything necessary for any trip. The owner of the club, handsome gambler Sinclair, hires Reno to waitress. Grumbling, drinking, snarling and swearing, Reno bangs her way through everyone else’s complicated plans, entangling herself in a byzantine labyrinth of betrayal, revenge, general mayhem, and even some good times. The first novel to focus on tough female, queer, outlaw culture in the Bay Area, this new edition features an exclusive interview with the author.