Ah, the unfortunate Bartley Hannigan. Teacher burnout is just one of his problems. There's also his disintegrating marriage, the inheritance of a haunted property with its uninvited bibulous guest, a psycho poet with a fatal attraction, the arrival of an Irish banshee hunter with poor personal hygiene, his sudden passion for a stripper, and eventually, the hit man on his trail. But as the gypsy said, this "shit-storm" will lead to either a higher plane of understanding-or sudden death. Either way, Bartley can hear his train a comin', and he's ready to jump aboard and ride the winding rails to the last stop, because he's done with the bullshit! Done!

Stephen O'Connor is a writer from Lowell, Massachusetts, where much of his work is set. His short stories have appeared in numerous literary journals, including The Massachusetts Review, Aethlon, and The Dimeshow Review. He is the author of the story collection, Smokestack Lightning, and the novels, The Spy in the City of Books and The Witch at Rivermouth. After having read that the comic novel was dead, O'Connor became indignant and spent the next three years writing This Is No Time to Quit Drinking.