One Foot Off the Gutter

The time is 1996. Our narrator, Coddy, a policeman, is underpaid, sleep-deprived, and overweight. Coddy’s partner, Bellamy, is homeless, living out of their shared squad car, littering the back seat with his dirty underwear and empty cigarette packs. Free Box and Barbie are squatters who rob Rainbow Health Foods at gunpoint for something to eat. From the junkies openly shooting up on stoops to the homeless men with their fleets of shopping carts piled high with garbage, Peter Plate’s Mission District is "a catechism in destruction," one that doesn’t end until someone is apprehended for an unsolved crime. A story about inner-city, west coast gentrification at the end of the 20th century.“Through vivid detailing of both his characters and the city of San Francisco, Plate brings conflict to life with skillful precision and undeniable poignancy.” –Rain Taxi


“I found a certain sweetness to the telling of Peter Plate's walk on the San Francisco wild side.” –Alan Cheuse, All Things ConsideredNamed a Literary Laureate of San Francisco in 2004, PETER PLATE taught himself to write fiction during eight years spent squatting in abandoned buildings. He is the author of many novels, beginning with Black Wheel of Anger (1990) and continuing through his seven neo-noir "psychic histories" of San Francisco, where he still lives and writes today.