Translations into Italian, Polish, Spanish, Croatian, Serbian, Dutch, Romanian, French, Traditional Chinese, German and Czech have appeared.
We read about two old friends, Raule – a healer and Gwynn – a bounty hunter, running from their homeland of Copper Country, chased by the winning side of the civil war they fought in.
Raule finds work in a slum hospital staffed by nuns, spending her time attempting to understand why so many deformed babies are born in her ward, in between stitching up local teenagers participating in skilled territorial knife fights.
The story covers a bizarre variety of themes; characters speak at length in poetic phrases and muse about religion, obsession, karma and death, while vicious street battles are fought, drug-unlocked dimensions are explored and personal vendettas are carried out.
Add to the mix meat sculptures that come alive, warped apothecaries selling psychedelic hallucinogens, and a cynical holy man with a dark and useless power and you only scratch the surface of K. J. Bishop's Etched City.