cover image The Lives of the Dead

The Lives of the Dead

Charles Smith. Washington Square Press, $9 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-671-74713-8

Questions about the relationship of artist to oeuvre are raised in this tale of a cult-filmmaker so engrossed in a project about a fictitious serial killer that his characters become real to him. ``Blisteringly beautiful,'' said PW. Smith ``fashions an unforgettable realm, as violent as it is sensuous.'' (Nov.)