Moist is the story of a severed arm left at a murder crime scene.  The arm and the actions behind the crime scene throws everyone's so-called normal lives into oblivion.

Bob, the center of the story, is a geek who works at a morgue.  When the arm arrives for prep work, Bob falls in lust with the tattoo of a woman in ecstasy on the arm.  Bob's heart leads him into dangerous territory with the high powered Mexican Mafia and puts him as a possible accomplice to the murder.

The book reads like a great film.  Punchy prose and dialogue carry the story well, some chapters should have "CUT TO:" as their headings.

The book has been optioned as a film and The Rock is interested in playing the man with the missing arm.

Read this book now because you're going to in a few years anyway, and you can tell all your friends how you read that book when it first came out because you knew it was something special.  Then they will finally listen to you and regard you as an authority of all things literary.

Remember to listen to the Mark Haskell Smith interview on Drinks with Tony.

Literary love,

Tony DuShane

also recommended:

The Ice-Cream Headache and other stories
by James Jones

James Jones is known for writing The Thin Red Line and From Here To Eternity.  Little did I know before starting this re-released book of short stories that he's a brilliant writer.  I mean AMAZING!  These are the best short stories I've read in a long time. 

Jones died in 1977.  His daughter wrote an introduction to this collection describing her feelings when reading her father's stories when she was young.  Even the introduction is brilliant.

After reading this collection I've hit the library and picked up The Thin Red Line.  His novel Whistle is in development as a film under the direction of Sidney Lumet (Dog Day Afternoon, 12 Angry Men).

How To Be Alone
by Jonathan Franzen

I haven't read any other books by Franzen, but after reading this collection of essays I gotta check out his other stuff.  I can't say too much more about this b/c I'm commissioned to write a review of this book for SF Station.
updated Here's the review on SF Station.

Suicide Casanova
by Arthur Nersesian

I'm about 1/3 thru this book.  It'll probably be Literary Love for next month, but I thought I'd give you a head start.