Agent of Utopia

In the tales gathered in An Agent of Utopia: New and Selected Stories you will meet a Utopian assassin, an aging UFO contactee, a haunted Mohawk steelworker, a time-traveling prizefighter, a yam-eating Zombie, and a child who loves a frizzled chicken-not to mention Harry Houdini, Zora Neale Hurston, Sir Thomas More, and all their fellow travelers riding the steamer-trunk imagination of a unique twenty-first-century fabulist.From the Florida folktales of the perennial prison escapee Daddy Mention and the dangerous gator-man Uncle Monday that inspired "e;Daddy Mention and the Monday Skull"e; (first published in Mojo: Conjure Stories, edited by Nalo Hopkinson) to the imagined story of boxer and historical bit player Jess Willard in World Fantasy Award winner "e;The Pottawatomie Giant"e; (first published on SciFiction), or the Ozark UFO contactees in Nebula Award winner "e;Close Encounters"e; to Flannery O'Connor's childhood celebrity in Shirley Jackson Award finalist "e;Unique Chicken Goes in Reverse"e; (first published in Eclipse) Duncan's historical juxtapositions come alive on the page as if this Southern storyteller was sitting on a rocking chair stretching the truth out beside you.Duncan rounds out his explorations of the nooks and crannies of history in two irresistible new stories, "e;Joe Diabo's Farewell"e; - in which a gang of Native American ironworkers in 1920s New York City go to a show - and the title story, "e;An Agent of Utopia"e; - where he reveals what really (might have) happened to Thomas More's head.