Pop culture and the balladry of bedlam collide in this wry debut that volunteers a transfusion of the unpredictable to readers yearning for more than a muralized Olive Garden world.

In [Sharps], a visit to the last Dollar Store becomes a meditation on the global supply chain. Unicorns and sarcophagi turn up in the most unlikely of places. Pushers shark outside of a short-staffed methadone clinic. A fan of Bill Callahan almost falls into New York's underbelly. Canmore moviegoers scoff at Alec Baldwin, and the Queen resembles Rip Torn.

Joyously ominous, blissfully melancholic, Stevie Howell's highly anticipated debut picks a street fight with language, half cut with its exuberant possibilities.