"Can't recall where it was I first came across ISAAC AND THE UNDERTAKER'S DAUGHTER and the alliterative no-nonsense monosyllables that gave me the name of its author. Recall only that I straightway made for a typewriter to whip off a love letter. Steve Stern is smart. Steve Stern is eloquent. Steve Stern is knowing. But the best of Steve Stern is the goodly heart whose imprint he impresses onto the page. Here is a mensch-and an artist"-Gordon Lish.