The Darker Proof: Stories from a Crisis (1988)

AIDS. The word is mentioned but once in the seven extraordinary short stories in this book. But its shadow touches the lives of all the characters and provides their ultimate tests as human beings and lovers. What acclaimed American novelist Edmund White and notable British writer Adam Mars-Jones have done is use the full power of their storytelling art and the intense depth of their concern to create fiction that brings into inescapable, unforgettable focus how this spreading plague affects so many different people in so many different ways. Set in America, England, and Europe, intertwining intimate tenderness with unflinching truth, wise, compassionate, and at times mordantly witty, these stories demand to be read—by all who care about literature and all who care about life.

Adam Mars-Jones

• Slim
• An Executor
• A Small Spade
• Remission

Edmund White

• Palace Days
• An Oracle
• Running on Empty