From Booklist

In his first book, Silverstein, editor
of Texas Monthly, offers eight wry
essays with one intriguing twist: half
of them are fact and half of them are
fiction. He has a great deal of fun
tweaking boundaries and bending
perceptions, for it is often the
factual accounts that strain
credulity. Silverstein took his first
journalism job in [Marfa], Texas, for
the Big Bend Sentinel when he was 24.
The barren land and wide-open skies of
far-western Texas fire his imagination
and his ambition, but finding the big
story that will make his name proves
arduous; in one hilarious running gag,
he is forever being outmaneuvered by
reporters from the New Yorker. Other
chapters cover the most dangerous road
race in the world, a search for pirate
Jean Lafitte’s treasure in the
Louisiana swamps, and a poetry contest
in Reno, Nevada, in which Silverstein
is forced to consider whether adding a
dance routine to his recital of his
poem would give him a competitive
edge. A terrific combination of droll
humor and fine writing makes this
title one to savor. --Joanne Wilkinson