From a Broken Bottle Traces of Perfume Still Emanate: Volumes 1-3

(New Directions) The first three installments of Mackey’s work of fiction — Bedouin Hornbook, Djbot Baghostus’s Run, and Atet A.D. — are collected here. From a Broken Bottle is an epistolary novel that unfolds through N.’s intimate letters to the mysterious Angel of Dust. Unexpected, profound happenings occur as N. delves into music and art and the goings-on of his transmorphic Los Angeles-based jazz ensemble, in which he is a composer and multi-instrumentalist. A fourth volume, Bass Cathedral, was released in 2008. Mackey is an author, radio jazz-show host, and editor of the literary journal Hambone.