Water from the Sun and Discovering Japan

Water from the Sun and Discovering Japan are two short stories from Bret Easton Ellis, author of American Psycho, previously published as in his collection The Informers. These stories chronicle the lives of a group of Los Angeles residents suffering from nothing less that death of the soul. Featuring Ellis's trademark skill for dialogue, off-the-wall humour, merciless description and exotic bleakness. In Water from the Sun, Cheryl Lane is going under. Her marriage to William has broken down, she has moved in with a young boy half her age. This young boy is more interested in other young boys. She doesn't show up to work. To keep afloat she drinks, she shops and she takes pills. Would she get anything out of seeing her husband again? In Discovering Japan, Bryan is on tour. His manager has taken him to Tokyo to promote his record and do a few gigs. But to get him off the drink, drugs and women is going to be a tall order. Written with spare and hypnotic prose, this is a story about a man hell-bent on destruction by a writer deeply concerned with the moral decline of our society. Part of the Picador Shots range of short reads.