Much of the appeal of T. Coraghessan Boyle's novels and stories is in his creation of outrageous characters, bizarre situations, and deliberately inflated comparisons. Hip, erudite, and audacious, his fiction is widely praised for its black comedy, incon...

Since 1979 T. Coraghessan Boyle has wondered, sometimes with a strong hint of the irony that pervades most of his fiction, why he has not become as popular a writer as John Irving, John Updike, or even Stephen King. Critics and readers have praised his s...

Known for his blend of black humor and slightly off-kilter characters, T. Coraghessan Boyle has garnered a reputation for inserting verbal pyrotechnics and a bizarre mix of subjects in his novels and story collections. Boyle finds humor and pathos in sub...

The Forestiere Underground Gardens in Fresno, CA, was originally intended by Baldasare Forestiere to be fruit orchard. He dug tunnels underneath the orchard which later resembled catacombs, with patios, passageways, a bath, a fishpond and a chapel. Shaw Avenue in Fresno, California, is...

Underground, by Don DeLillo (Scribner, 827 pp., $27.50) THE problem with the New York Mets is that, instead of just trying to get to first base, which is a worthy and attainable goal, they always go for the home run and all...