Seeking information about Joshua Mohr online yields a great deal of results referencing Charles Bukowski, a comparison that, while only glancingly accurate in his previous work, will no doubt be cemented by Damascus, a great deal of which is set in and around a seedy bar of the same name in San Francisco. Damascus is a classic dive bar, populated by a cast of characters in various stages of inebriation, illness and malcontent-ment. Owen, the owner, has found that the key to his own happiness lies in wearing a Santa Claus disguise, nicely hiding a birthmark on his upper lip that strongly resembles a famous mustache of an especially detested and well-known historical figure. (Revv, the other bartender, salutes and mouths "Sieg Heil!" to the amusement of customers. Owen is too depressed to address it.)
Some customers are exhausted by their attempts to reinvent themselves, and others struggle to stay ahead of a circumstantially-forced reinvention that could crush them. Mohr's writing in Damascus works winningly when unravelling the relationships of these possibly hopeless inebriates, as their shared orbit around the bar pulls and pushes on their downward trajectories--not necessarily reversing the course, but maybe granting some meaning and relief. Some of the humorous touches may remind readers of the prose of Bukowski, but where he would have shined the spotlight on their drunken stupor, Mohr reveals a more thoughtful, existential consideration of who these people are. If his work continues in this vein, we may one day instead see Bukowski being compared with Mohr. --Matthew Tiffany, counselor, writer for Condalmo