As in the lives of people we all know, this story presents a dozen fictional Santa Feans trying to love, yet mistreating, each other the week before US forces invade Iraq. "The aggression that dominates American life today," says author Michael Scofield, "goads them into brandishing their dark sides." Married realtor Maxine Morgan, for instance, coaxes conservative mortgage broker Ron Kirkpatrick (and others) into bed. Ron's not-quite-yet-psychotic wife Lila tries to seduce handyman Victor Valdez. High-tech writer Manny Barnes falsely promises his fiancee to give up in-your-face activism. CPA Chuck Ridley leaves his family for Silicon Valley CEO Bret, who changes his mind about war. In an ambiance of black humor and misfiring sex, readers will find themselves embracing Maxine's attempt to escape from nymphomania after meeting a retired war correspondent, Victor's desperate scheme to care for his mother while returning to carving Santos, Lila's plan to destroy Maxine, Manny's longing to give Joyce a baby, and Chuck's joy in discovering he's gay. You'll laugh a lot--but you'll also weep to see how our increasing turmoil at home in the United States mirrors our ongoing behavior overseas. Yale University graduate Michael Scofield received his MFA in Writing from Vermont College in 2002. Currently he teaches creative-writing skills to half a dozen students one-on-one. The author of two books of poems, "Silicon Valley Escapee" (2000) and "Whirling Backward into the World" (2006), he also has published books on bird-watching and do-it-yourself upholstering. Before moving to Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1995, his wife and he ran a high-tech marketing-communications business from their home in Palo Alto, California.

Former husband-and-wife hedge-fund managers work an Internet scam, inviting patrons to spend a weekend improving their sex techniques-unaware that spy cams track their every bounce and moan. While the patrons set themselves up for blackmail, Raven, the sex facilitator, falls in love with the co-owner's husband. They plot to poison his wife even as the wife decides to kill them. Meanwhile, Flasher Cobb and his girlfriend, camped in a refuge near Kat's Harbor for the Homeless, supply the sex hacienda with cocaine. A group of the homeless, led by a composer, a retired "New York Times" reporter, and an Iraq-War veteran who calls himself Stormy Weathers, bust the scam wide open. In the doing, the composer and his long-estranged daughter reunite. Includes Readers Guide. Yale University graduate MICHAEL SCOFIELD was with "Sunset Magazine" until, with his wife, he launched a firm to write marketing documents for Silicon Valley companies. In 2002 he received his low-residency MFA in Writing from Vermont College. Sunstone Press has published "Whirling Backward into the World," his second book of poems, as well as his Santa Fe trilogy which consists of "Acting Badly," "Making Crazy," and "Smut Busters." Includes Readers Guide. William Maloney, documentary filmmaker said: "Michael Scofield brings humor and humanity to Santa Fe's seamier side of life. Reading 'Smut Busters' is the most fun I've had since puberty."

As in the lives of people we all know, this story presents a dozen fictional Santa Feans trying to love, yet mistreating, each other the week before US forces invade Iraq. The aggression that dominates American life today, says author Michael Scofield, goads them into brandishing their dark sides. Married realtor Maxine Morgan, for instance, coaxes conservative mortgage broker Ron Kirkpatrick (and others) into bed. Ron's not-quite-yet-psychotic wife Lila tries to seduce handyman Victor Valdez. High-tech writer Manny Barnes falsely promises his fiancee to give up in-your-face activism. CPA Chuck Ridley leaves his family for Silicon Valley CEO Bret, who changes his mind about war. In an ambiance of black humor and misfiring sex, readers will find themselves embracing Maxine's attempt to escape from nymphomania after meeting a retired war correspondent, Victor's desperate scheme to care for his mother while returning to carving Santos, Lila's plan to destroy Maxine, Manny's longing to give Joyce a baby, and Chuck's joy in discovering he's gay. You'll laugh a lot-but you'll also weep to see how our increasing turmoil at home in the United States mirrors our ongoing behavior overseas. Yale University graduate Michael Scofield received his MFA in Writing from Vermont College in 2002. Acting Badly is the first in his Santa Fe Trilogy of novels, followed by Making Crazy and Smut Busters, all from Sunstone Press. He is the author of two books of poetry: Silicon Valley Escapee (2000) and Whirling Backward into the World (2006), the latter from Sunstone Press. He also has published books on bird-watching and do-it-yourself upholstering. Before moving to Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1995, he and his wife Noreen headed a high-tech marketing-communications business in Palo Alto, California.

Another beautiful Santa Fe spring as four uneasy couples trample each other's lives in the search for love. "Making Crazy," the second novel in Scofield's "Santa Fe" trilogy, explores the emptiness of love under false pretenses. As mishaps pile up, the increasingly frantic dance forces everyone to abandon compromise in hope of a fresh start. Yale University graduate Michael Scofield received his MFA in Writing from Vermont College in 2002. In 2006, Santa Fe's Sunstone Press published "Whirling Backward into the World," his second book of poems, and "Acting Badly," the first novel in his Santa Fe trilogy.

"These fifty-two poems," Michael Scofield says, "are fictionalized attempts to accept my existence in the world. They range from dealing with outrage over our lust to make war through regret at botched relationships, to love for Noreen, my wife of eighteen years, to the renewal of energy that comes from listening to the music of J.S. Bach, to the underlying belief that a higher power loves me. Nonsense poems appear throughout the book because nonsense is often all I can make of what seems reality." A graduate of Yale University, Michael Scofield received his M.F.A. in Writing from Vermont College in 2002. Afternoons, he teaches creative-writing skills individually to half a dozen students. The author of two chapbooks and an earlier book of poems, "Silicon Valley Escapee," he also has published books on topics as diverse as bird-watching and furniture upholstering. Before moving to Santa Fe in 1995, his wife and he ran a high-tech marketing-communications business from their home in Palo Alto, California.