It is the morning of Pacotes last fight, the finale of a great career. The city of Sevilla waits, heavy with anticipation. But Pacote finds he is afraid and fears disgrace in the ring. Time, once his friend, now presses him on to the moment when the gate opens and the first bull enters the ring.

Barnaby Conrad is the author of twenty-five books of fiction and nonfiction, including Hemingway's Spain, How to Fight a Bull, and Matador, which has sold more than three million copies. He is an artist and former bullfighter and American vice-consul in Spain, founder and codirector of the Santa Barbara Writer's Conference, and a native San Franciscan.