Crocodile Blood

While Majosee Cowaya, a young Seminole woman, is making her way through the fetid Florida swampland to the reservation to visit her grandparents, she is discovered by five drunk, vulgar young men illegally hunting alligators. They rape her repeatedly and eventually throw her to the crocodile that has invaded the 'gator-filled lake. Rather than killing Majosee, the reptile also rapes her; the brutal offspring of their union (""crocodile blood'') spawn further violence. These marauding monsters aggravate an already volatile situation among Seminoles, whites and blacks, one that erupts into bloodshed and carnage. Gabe Kogan, an artist dubbed Storyteller by Majosee, relates the events of this overwhelmingly atmospheric tale of moral chaos and revenge in dense, winding prose (aptly divided into ``collages'' rather than chapters). The end is purposely ambiguous: either Kogan has completely lost his mind or the world has gone crazy. Skeins of dream and vision tangle with the thread of reality in this tour de force, forming a powerful, surreal story of aberrant human nature and the madness it can engender. Mandel's previous novels include Flee the Angry Strangers and The Breakwater. 45,000 ad/promo. November