WHEN THE MESSENGER IS HOT

New York City, NY: Little, Brown & Company, 2003. First Edition. First Printing.. Hardcover. Fine/Fine Dust Jacket.. New York City, NY: Little, Brown & Company, 2003. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First Edition/First Printing. 210 pages. Retrospective collection of short stories. One of Elizabeth Crane's finest achievements. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Elizabeth Crane's "When The Messenger Is Hot". In many ways, her best book. "Crane works on an intuitive plane as her funny, funky, wounded, but still swinging women protagonists struggle to survive in a cacophonous and aggressive world. Having kicked the alcohol habit, they have turned to caffeine with a vengeance, making for marvelously keyed-up and jittery narratives. Crane off-handedly toys with assumptions about reality as her characters change shape, indulge in elaborate fantasies, and even, slowly disappear. One narrator is certain that her mother has come back from the dead, another riffs hilariously on the complications of having a much younger lover, and yet another documents her experiences dating various men named Dave. Clever, inventive, and piquant, Crane's breathless stories hit the brain with more voltage than a double espresso" (Donna Seaman) . An absolute "must-have" title for Elizabeth Crane collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed in black ink-pen on the title page by Elizabeth Crane. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a contemporary classic. This is one of few such signed copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A scarce signed copy thus. One of the most brilliant American writers of our time. A fine copy. . ISBN 0316096520.