"In Writers: 13 Vignettes, great American storyteller Barry Gifford paints portraits of famous writers caught in imaginary vulnerable moments in their lives. In prose that is funny, grotesque, and a touch brutal, Gifford shows these writers at their most human, which is to say at their worst: they are liars, frauds, lousy lovers, and drunks. This is a world in which Emily Dickinson remains an unpublished poet, Ernest Hemingway drunkenly sets explosive...

Fred Madison is a saxophonist who finds a video tape on his doorstep that shows the interior of his house. He becomes convinced that someone has broken in and calls the police. He finds another videotape showing him killing his wife. The police arrest for murdering his wife. In prison, he inexplicably morphs into a young man named Pete Dayton and begins living a completely different life. When Pete is released, his and Fred's paths begin to cross...