Song of the Silent Snow (Penguin Books)

Fat Phil can't lose at dice, even when his friends turn nasty and he's trying his hardest; a salesman finds success comes from fortune cookie mottoes, but panics when these mottoes turn against him; a date goes so perfectly a man talks himself out of ever seeing the woman again; and, a commuter finds himself obsessed with a plain young woman on his train, at the expense of his marriage. In this collection of short stories, Hubert Selby Jr. Plunges the reader into the violent, passionate worlds of his protagonists and captures perfectly the delicate balance between joy and despair.