The Devil Drives a Black Volga

The Devil Drives a Black Volga is a collection of poetry and short fiction by author J. Elmore, hailed as "among the first-rate storytellers of the modern age." These bracing compositions visit the distant past, the disturbing present, and the dystopian future-from the mythical marvels of Inverness ("Ode to the Dragon King") to the shores of the Atlantic ("Sonhadora") to a brutal massacre in a doomed kingdom ("The Fall of Assur").

Elmore's stylistic range and versatility are on polytropic display in poems of love ("In My Hands"), verses that pay tribute to Edgar Allan Poe ("My Jeannette, Immortal"), and pay unabashed homage to pure pulp fiction in "The Man in the Black Suit" and "A Call from Eugenie." Additionally, Elmore lets us in on the Found Correspondence genre ("On This Crooked Path Madness Lies") and treats us to her love of nature and friendship in the charming "Afternoon Tea."