Elvis Is Out There is a fast, funny novel that embraces the historical importance of Memphis music, as well as stringing together a series of improbable Elvis sightings. Franz Douskey lived in Memphis in the early 1960s, and spent much time with Sam C. Phillips, founder of Sun Records and discoverer of Howlin' Wolf, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley. Douskey also spent time with lesser known musicians, some of whom appear in Elvis Is Out There. The idea for his book came during a serious backstage conversation with Merle Haggard in 1982. Merle had attended Elvis's funeral at Graceland and swears to this day that wasn't Elvis in the coffin. If you can't believe Merle Haggard, who can you believe? So Elvis Is Out There begins. Elvis is alive and out there. The details about the history and music on Memphis are the authentic view of the man who lived there.

Poetry. "A long overdue collection, WEST OF MIDNIGHT places new works alongside pieces drawn from a decades-spanning career to illustrate the breadth of an influential and singular voice in poetry. Franz Douskey's insights are uniquely his, his voice direct and his imagination meteoric. Douskey has lived long and large.... The poems are rich in wit, irreverence and a furious honesty. Everything is autobiographical. From intimate relationships, political quagmires, baseball and eroticism, Douskey wields an acerbic wit and a delicate command of tone to dive into the contradictions that make us human. From the haunted urban alleys of a turbulent childhood to his rhapsodic journeys through the nocturnal deserts of the Southwest, Douskey revels both in the absurdity of modern civilization and the heart-stopping beauty of the natural world"--Robert Reinhardt.

An intimate look at the legendary Frank Sinatra by one of his closest friends. Not many people were allowed inside Frank Sinatra's inner circle. But Tony Consiglio was a boyhood friend of Sinatra's who remained his friend and confidant for over sixty years. One reason Sinatra valued Tony's friendship is that he could be trusted: Sinatra nicknamed him "the Clam" because Tony never spoke to reporters or biographers about the singer. From the early days when Sinatra was trying to establish himself as a singer to the mid-1960s, Tony worked with Sinatra and was there to share in the highs and lows of Sinatra's life and career. Tony was with Sinatra during his "bobby-soxer" megastar days in the 1940s, and he remained loyal to Sinatra during the lean years of the early 1950s, when "the Voice" was struggling with a crumbling singing and acting career-as well as his tumultuous marriage to Ava Gardner. Tony also had a front row seat to Sinatra's comeback in the 1950s, starting with his Academy Award-winning role in From Here to Eternity and a string of now-classic hit recordings. Tony's friendship with Sinatra allowed him to rub elbows with the Hollywood elite, including Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Sammy Davis, Jr., Peter Lawford, Kim Novak, Ava Gardner, and many others. It also brought him close to the political world of the early 1960s, when Sinatra campaigned for John F. Kennedy and then helped plan the Kennedy inauguration. Tony was even at the Kennedy compound in Hyannis, Massachusetts, when the election results came in. Sinatra and Me will shed new light on the real Frank Sinatra-from the man who knew him better than anyone.