Captain Maximus

Classic short stories by a beloved virtuoso of language, craft, and madness from the American South

In the eight stories collected in Captain Maximus, Barry Hannah explores the lives of everymen and eccentrics alike in a showcase of his acerbic wit, dark humor, and stylistic flare. Hannah’s unorthodox prose, characterized by unusual wordplay mixed with hints of Faulkner and Hemingway, captured the post-1970s malaise of American life, endeared him to literary circles, and left a lasting influence on the craft of countless authors. Featuring some of Hannah’s finest work, from the fever dream “Ride, Fly, Penetrate, Loiter” to his film treatment for Robert Altman “Power and Light,” Captain Maximus is the perfect introduction to Barry Hannah.

“His writing was anarchic and wonderfully funny. He sounded like what you’d get if you stirred three heaping teaspoons of Thomas Pynchon and Terry Southern into a jar of Eudora Welty.”—Dwight Garner, The New York Times