A Club in Montmartre: An Encounter with Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Award-winning author Mike Resnick weaves a story of despair and hope in Montmartre. Author's first story outside the science-fiction genre. Compelling story of overcoming obstacles. At the cabarets and brothels of Montmartre, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec is a well-known visitor. Brilliant, rich, and deformed, Toulouse-Lautrec carries on flirtations and relationships with many women - prostitutes as well as famous singers and dancers. In A Club in Montmartre, renowned writer Mike Resnick imagines the lonely artist meeting a starving waif, Dany, at the famous Moulin Rouge. Dany, like so many before her, falls under the spell of the dissolute can-can dancer known as La Goulue. Toulouse-Lautrec wages a Faustian battle with La Goulue for the young girl's soul even as he is losing the battle for his own, slipping deeper and deeper into alcoholism and bitterness. This deeply felt story, Resnick's first in a genre other than science fiction, captures the intensity of a genius caught between his limitations and his aspirations.