Jim Dodge is the author of three novels, including Fup and Not Fade Away, and a collection of poetry and short prose, Rain on the River. He lived for many years on an isolated ranch in western Sonoma County and has been by turns an apple picker, a carpet layer, a teacher, a professional gambler, a shepherd for five years, a woodcutter and an environmental restorer.

When Daniel's mother dies, he is brought under the protection of the AMO: the Alliance of Magicians and Outlaws. It is an introduction to a world of revenge, revolution and mind-bending chemicals, where anarchists, alchemists and high-stake gamblers co-exist. It is a place in which magic and murder are the norm.
So begins an extraordinary quest for knowledge and understanding in this unforgettable outlaw classic.