""God Clobbers Us All," by gum, I couldn't have said it better myself. He might've added, however, that this is only the beginning of our troubles. I almost split my tombstone laughing. This man Poe Ballantine can write the stockings off a schoolmarm."- Mark Twain"What do I think about Poe Ballantine? I try to not to think about Poe Ballantine. I'm not much for blurbs either. I put them right up there with creative writing workshops. Hell of a good-looking cover, though. Now hand me that can of Schlitz and let me get back to work. All this talk about my death has got me in a funk." -Charles BukowskiEighteen-year-old Edgar Donahoe is a rest home nurse's aid surfer-boy adulterer who, along with his lesbian Blackfoot nurse's aid best friend, Pat Fillmore, becomes responsible for the disappearance of their fellow worker, Beverly Fey, after an LSD party gone awry. Set against the dilapidated halls of a San Diego rest home, Lemon Acres, in the 1970s, this story is the shimmering, hysterical and melancholy account of Edgar's struggles with romance, death, friendship, and an ill-advised affair with the wife of a maladjusted war veteran. Ballantine's own brand of delicious quirkiness and storytelling is smooth and compelling, and "God Clobbers Us All" is guaranteed to satisfy Ballantine fans, as well as convert those lucky enough to be discovering his work for the first time. Suggestive of Charles Bukowski and Jack Kerouac, Ballantine's first novel is offbeat, compelling, and fun Poe Ballantine lives in Chadron, Nebraska, and his work has appeared in "The Sun" and the "Atlantic Monthly Online." In 1998, he won a Best American Short Story award. His debut collection, "Things I LikeAbout America" was published in 2002.