It's 1999. Change is coming. A mysterious technology called the Crab is infiltrating the minds of U.S. citizens with dreams from another planet. Sarah's psychic abilities make her the first person to recognize the alien dreams crashing around New York City, but what should she do? Does the Crab free people's minds, or enslave them? Marinda, a painter who can't make herself paint, has an ex-boyfriend determined to get her back or punish her for leaving, he can't tell which. The strange late night phone calls he's getting, source unknown, are egging him on. Jerry, who thinks New York is his for the taking, is getting the calls too, and growing increasingly volatile and confused. Across the U.S., in government buildings and in bars, violence is spreading, and no one knows why. Is it the Crab? As the danger rises in this disturbing, suspenseful, and humorous novel, the question turns urgent: whose dreams are people really dreaming?

Mark Wallace is the author and editor of a number of books of fiction, poetry, and essays. His most recent novel, Crab, was published in 2017 by Submodern Books. Other recent publications include a book-length prose poem, Notes from the Center on Public Policy, and a novel, The Quarry and The Lot. Temporary Worker Rides a Subway won the 2002 Gertrude Stein Poetry Award and was published by Green Integer Books. His critical articles and reviews have appeared in numerous publications, and he has co-edited two essay collections, Telling It Slant: Avant Garde Poetics of the 1990s, and A Poetics of Criticism.