Praise

“With mesmerizing detail, Butler excavates layers of memory and illuminates moments of both tenderness and alienation.” —New Yorker, on A Small Hotel

“Butler has not entered the significant and ever-growing canon of Vietnam-related fiction (he has long been a member)—he has changed its composition forever.” —Claire Messud, Guardian (UK), on A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain

“Deeply affecting . . . a brilliant collection of stories about storytellers whose recited folklore radiates as implicit prayer . . . One of the strongest collections I’ve read in ages.” —Ann Beattie, on A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain

“Robert Olen Butler’s literary genius is perhaps unequaled in scope. He can plumb Vietnam experience for new inspirations (A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain), glean real intellectual grist from fish-wrap journalism (Tabloid Dreams), neatly equate aliens and Jesus (Mr. Spaceman)—in short, his muse takes him not only far, but deep.” —Jeff Guinn, Ft. Worth Star Telegram