A Damn Tree

A detective obsessed with wrestling. A man with a fetish for inflatable sheep. A Japanese-speaking alien. These are just a few of the bizarre individuals that the protagonists in A Damn Tree encounter. In the twelve stories that make up M.P. Newman's magnificent debut story collection, we follow these protagonists as they struggle to find stability and fulfillment in an increasingly bewildering world. Characters like Benny, a man who stands in the park pretending to be a tree, Bill, a watchman at an illicit business, and Steve, a voyeur keeping an eye on his neighbors, are witnesses to the confusion of the world, powerless against the violence and heartbreak that surrounds them. And yet, whenever all seems lost, there is peace to be found in the people they grow close to. A Damn Tree is a dazzlingly creative collection, comic and frightening, but always with a deep appreciation for the world, nature, and above all the love that people can share in their friends, family, and romantic partners. So when you find a hair in your soup, take heart—it may have fallen from the head of a friend. Synopses: In "One Time in Africa," a wealthy Londoner travels to rural Ghana in search of the woman of his dreams—literally—and the purpose of his life, only to find that neither is what he expected. "Of Life and Death" tells the story of a Bill, watchman at a mysterious, illicit business, and the choices he must make between his duties to his employer and to his humanity. "Baghdad-Manhattan" examines the turmoil of an Iraqi refugee trying to make a new life for himself as he fights against his past, his inner demons, and the unfamiliar temptations of New York City. In "Super Spy," we witness a voyeur's obsessive surveillance of his neighbors, including a kind-hearted Vietnamese family and their pigs, a webcam-modeling business, and a German couple hosting a perpetual, and increasingly debauched, party. A man arrives at the hospital with an unusual complaint in "The Alien Anal Probe"—and neither the police nor the on-call psychiatrist believes him until they receive another surprise visitor. "A Damn Tree" is the story of Benny, a man whose sole responsibility is to wake up each morning, dress in camouflage, and stand so still that even birds see only a tree, and of his neighbor Nathalie, a single mother who is determined to see him as a man. "Coo—Wings of Peace" takes place in the pit cave into which eighteen-year-old Harry has fallen after a drunken night. With only the pigeons he despises as company, Harry meditates on the choices that have brought him here, and the changes he will make—if he survives. "Rose's Luck" is the tale of a single night in the life of a heart-broken woman named Rose: the night that she intends to be her last. But fate has other things in store, for both Rose and the people around her. "Lost Corpses" depicts a series of mysterious occurrences at a local hospital, and the frightening aftermath that sends a young man on a journey across continents and into a world of secrecy that leaves him and everyone around him second-guessing reality. In "Bob is in the House" we follow an aging bachelor named Bob as he navigates the world of inflatable sheep, Native American costumes, prostitutes, and fake names that he anonymously invites into his home for a secret party every weekend. "Fish Soup Fantasies" is a short, comic tale of three strange hairs in a soup—hopefully placed there by the three lovely waitresses who served it. "The Revolution" is the story of a hungry cat, three revolutionaries at odds with each other as much as with the world, a woman in labor, and the celebration that for one night leads all these struggles to be forgotten.