Since the 1999 debut of his first novel, The Fuck-Up (MTV books), a tragicomedy set against the seedy backdrop of the early 80s East Village, Arthur Nersesian has acquired a devoted following of readers who hearken to his underworld of sexual danger and urban claustrophobia. Nersesian’s subsequent five novels—all of them first-person narratives from the point of view of actors, writers, artists and other misfits surviving the hostile but inspiring environment of a darker, recently bygone New York City—combine tightly-woven plotlines with a certain sense of the mythic as his characters struggle with sex, work, love and mortality.