The Inner Life of Objects

by Maxine Combs

Hilarious, zany, and wise

There’s Opal Kirshbaum, an aspiring actress; Opal’s painter husband, Sol; Geneva Lamb, an English Ph.D.; Poppy Greengold, a single mother who’s fond of Goddess books; and guest lecturer Abel Moore, a visiting psychic whose predictions are accurate 33% of the time. All five of these people make up the Zoetic Society, an organization devoted to the exploration of the paranormal. This sassy novel is a romp through their lives, and the perfect quirky read.

“Taut prose and a dynamic ensemble of characters…. Intellectually and spiritually provocative…. In an era where many seem to be searching for greater  meaning, Combs offers readers a fascinating examination of the nature of belief and how it colors perception.” – Publishers Weekly

“A wonderfully funny and poetic book. Maxine Combs has a keen eye for the poignant oddities of ordinary lives.” – Dori Appel, 1998 Oregon Book Award Winner

“Loaded with surprises, odd juxtapositions, flashes of wisdom and humor, and moments of beauty.” – Shirley G. Cochrane, author of Letters to the Quick/Letters to the Dead

“An engaging, intelligent novel.” – Jody Carr, author of Lost and Found

Maxine Combs taught English in Washington, D.C. Former fiction editor for The Antietam Review. Her other books are two novels: Handbook of the Strange (Signal, 1996) and The Foam of Perilous Seas (Slough Press), and two poetry books from Wineberry Press: Swimming out of the Collective Unconscious (1999) and Listening for Wings (2002). She loved horse racing, and her husband has shares in three horses named after her and her books: “Dr. Max,” “Inner Life of Objects,” and “Listening for Wings.” She died in 2002. She won the Larry Neal Award for Fiction and the Slough Fiction Award.

Fiction, 230 pages

$14.95, ISBN 0-934971-72-2 paper

$29.95, ISBN 0-934971-73-0 cloth