Each story is illustrated with a full-color reproduction of the painting that inspired it

"Seventeen stories by seventeen brilliant writers, inspired by seventeen paintings. That was the formula for Lawrence Block's two ground-breaking anthologies, In Sunlight or in Shadow and Alive in Shape and Color, and it's on glorious display here once again in From Sea to Stormy Sea. This time the paintings are exclusively the work of American artists, and the roster includes Harvey Dunn, John Steuart Curry, Reginald Marsh, Thomas Hart Benton, Helen Frankenthaler, Winslow Homer, Rockwell Kent, Grant Wood, and Andy Warhol. ' ...[A] collection, with widely divergent stories united by theme and culture, and -- no surprise -- beautifully illustrated with full-color reproductions of the seventeen paintings. Including stories by: Sara Paretsky, Jan Burke, Warren Moore, Patricia Abbott, Christa Faust, Jerome Charyn, Barry Malzberg, Scott Frank, Brendan DuBois, Tom Franklin, Gary Phillips, Charles Ardai, Micah Nathan, Janice Eidus, John Sandford, Jane Hamilton, and Lawrence Block." --

Foreword: before we begin ... / Lawrence Block -- Prairie is my garden / Pattie Abbott -- Mother of pearl / Charles Ardai -- Superficial injuries / Jan Burke -- Man from hard rock mountain / Jerome Charyn -- Adrift off the diamond shoals / Brendan DuBois -- You're a walking time bomb / Janice Eidus -- Garnets / Christa Faust -- He came in through the bathroom window / Scott Frank -- On little Terry Road / Tom Franklin -- Someday, a revolution / Jane Hamilton -- Riverfront / Barry N. Malzberg -- Silver at lakeside / Warren Moore -- Get him / Micah Nathan -- Baptism in Kansas / Sara Paretsky -- A matter of options / Gary Phillips -- Girl with an ax / John Sandford -- Way we see the world / Lawrence Block