Buffalo Lockjaw
By Greg Ames

BUFFALO LOCKJAW: Going Home Will Never Be the Same Again

Greg Ames, author of BUFFALO LOCKJAW (Hyperion; April 1, 2009; Original Trade Paperback; $14.99)

This striking debut by talented young writer Greg Ames is the story of a struggling, quarter-life-crisis writer in Brooklyn who returns home to Buffalo, NY -- a town frozen in cold and in the past -- to celebrate Thanksgiving and face tough decisions concerning his mother, who is in a nursing home suffering from Alzheimer's. James drives up from New York with a copy of Assisted Suicide for Dummies in the passenger seat, but his subtle allusions to euthanasia are brushed off by his father and sister, and family tensions are tangible. His mother isn't the only character who is ill -- the town of Buffalo has been dying for decades, and with reconnecting eyes, James explores the offbeat artistic community, the local dives, and old high school buddies who never seemed to move on or move up. Darkly comedic, touching, and well-written, Buffalo Lockjaw is a gem of a story that will resonate with everyone who has ever had to grow up.