An Angel of Sodom by David Vardeman

An Angel of Sodom is the title short novel, which is followed by 13 short stories, by David Vardeman, long neglected, long at work, always writing. Now that he is published a unique and frankly indescribable author has come to haunt the literary milieu with is perverse, absurd, realist, Midwestern, US American, human being tales of people who generally go about their mundane quotidian while navigating the most difficult task of all–living sanely. In each story, the characters seem to be confounded by the banality of normal, while the undertow of an unglimpsed all-powerful strange tugs at them.
What they don't notice, luckily Vardeman does. His writing provides a variety of pleasures, including humor and puzzles that prick the intellect to discomfort, but his primary talent lies in providing endless surprise. Not a page goes by without unpredictable reactions, urges, indabas, insights, petty cruelties, odd moments of tenderness–which in this world are indeed odd, and not likely to last.