Bill Cheng’s debut novel “Southern Cross the Dog” is a gritty, dark odyssey that explores the lives of three people, and how each is caught between the harsh, tragic living world and the enigmatic, enticing supernatural world. Robert Chatham believes he is “jinxed,” a curse that is bound to follow him for his entire life. As a young boy, he survives the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, but then his parents leave him in the care of a brothel proprietress before vanishing forever, presumably dead.