Book excerpt: Two drug dealers, one the grandson of a killer and the other, an abuse victim, each try to avoid repeating the past as they fall in love. Smith Corona is an existential 21st-century man, over-read and under-motivated, lost in a sea of mediocrity. When Keiko bursts into his life like an atomic wind, he holds fast to her, despite all the warning signs that she is dangerously psychotic. "How much can I absorb," he asks, "for the sake of love?" Will he take a stand, become a man, and reject the very symbol of masculinity--the acquisition of a beautiful woman? Or will he fall back on the automatic passivity that has characterized his entire life?