Title: Black-eyed Susan
Description: "On the one hand, Susan Iris Spector, a San Francisco-based radio DJ in her 30s, is pretty ordinary. She loves Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, John Denver, Donna Summer, and other big recording stars of the 1980s. On the other hand, she has synesthesia, two different-colored eyes, rare AB-negative blood, a leap year birthday, and the recent knowledge that she was adopted, her kooky parents having forgotten to tell her years ago. And, to add insult to injury, she's just been informed that her life will likely end in two months from an extremely rare form of lung cancer. Though normally ambivalent about life, she hastily jots down her chief "things to do before I die" goals on a bar napkin...Enter Calliope, an ex-exotic dancer with a bright orange hearse and a knack for determining destiny; Will, a literal, and slightly drunk, knight; Leo, a little lion with a fear of most things; and Eternity, an elderly dachshund who's not long for this world. All set off on a Wizard of Oz-inspired cross-country journey, guided only by the radio, with an enlightenment attorney, and two men in menacing parachute pants. What follows is absurd, improbable, comical and even surreal, but then again, so is Susan."--Page 2 of cover.
Subjects: Life change events, Conduct of life, Cancer, Fiction, Fate and fatalism, Patients, Automobile travel, Friendship, Women