Described by Stanley Elkin as "this country's best-kept literary secret" and "a lost American classic," W. M. Spackman is one of the finest writers of the twentieth century. This omnibus edition includes all five of the author's previously published novels: "Heyday" (and here presented with revisions the author made shortly before his death); and the critically acclaimed novels published between 1978 and 1985: "An Armful of Warm Girl" (1978), "A Presence with Secrets" (1980), "A Difference of Design" (1983), and "A Little Decorum, for Once" (1985). The novel "As I Sauntered Out, One Midcentury Morning" is published here for the first time, as well as the author's only two short stories. As the title indicates, this collects Spackman's full canon of fiction written throughout his life (1905-90). Included are the novels Heydey (1953), An Armful of Warm Girl (1978), A Presence with Secrets (1980), A Difference in Design (1983), A Little Decorum, for Once (1985), and As I Sauntered Out, One Midcentury Morning, which is published here for the first time, plus the short stories "Dialogue at the End of a Pursuit" and "Declarations of Intent." A wonderful collection by an underappreciated writer, this has a place in all fiction collections. Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. The novelist and critic William Mode Spackman had an Olympian disregard for the prevailing concerns of modern fiction, a bemused fascination with the protocols of sex and a wonderfully supple, witty, inventive command of language. All these qualities are on display in this hefty compilation ...but this retrospective also demonstrates why Spackman will most likely remain an acquired taste ... -- The New York Times Book Review, Richard E. Nicholls