Set in the closing months of World War II in an American bomber squadron off the coast of Italy, Catch-22 is the story of a bombardier named Yossarian who is frantic and furious because thousands of people he has never even met keep trying to kill him.

In Closing Time, Joseph Heller returns to the characters of Catch-22, now coming to the end of their lives and the century, as is the entire generation that fought in World War II: Yossarian and Milo Minderbinder, the chaplain, and such newcomers as little Sammy Singer and giant Lew, all linked, in an uneasy peace and old age, fighting not the Germans this time, but The End. Closing Time deftly satirizes the realities and the myths of America in the...

Novelist Eugene Pota is a cultural icon of the 20th century, struggling to write what will be the last novel of his career. But what to write about when, like so many noted authors before him, all of Pota's output since that first, landmark novel has been scrutinized, dissected - and found wanting?

The story of a group of fliers in the Mediterranean during World War II.

A collection of top-selected mystery writing from the past year is culled from a variety of respected sources and offers insight into evolving genre trends.

Presents the lives and literary output of more than 60 of America's most read authors in concise, stand-alone segments presented in chronological order.