Tom Leins

The Good Book: Fairy Tales for Hard Men Tom Leins

Testament, Florida is the town where the American dream bottomed out. A town that was bled dry and kicked into the weeds by venal men with bad intentions. A town so insignificant that it no longer appears on any map.

During the 1980s, however, it was home to the Testament Wrestling Alliance, the chaotic wrestling promotion that made stars of Gringo Starr, 'Voodoo' Ray Blanchette and the Jazz Butcher. The man who made it happen was promoter Frank 'Fingerf*ck' Flanagan, who ruled his territory with an iron fist. A tough man willing to make tough decisions, Flanagan's personal road to hell is paved with dead wrestlers.

The Good Book is an interlinked, 21-story collection that takes place between 1980 and 1999. These stories are grubby, hardboiled tales that explore the lives of desperate menw--men who can't leave their rivalries in the ring. In Testament, every action has a reaction and every feud ends in carnage. If someone else wins, you lose.