by Philalethes On Jan. 1st, normally peaceful Kazakhs demonstrated to protest the doubling of gasoline prices. This was in the country’s largest city, Alma Ata (the more recent spelling is Almaty). The Russian Tsars founded the city in the 19th century. Its original name was Verny, “Faithful”; Alma Ata […]
“The Devil guides us like a puppet master./Disgusting objects please us very well/Each Day we take another step toward Hell,/Unflinching through a putrid lack of luster.”
In this final excerpt from the novel Rat Park, super-agent and sex addict Lester Barnes shares his deepest wishes and darkest fears with his Brentwood shrink, unexpectedly meets the love of his life Raquel Donner, and then, in an instant, all is lost.