When a mysterious new member joins a group of struggling authors, the friends discover that they may have a supernatural creature in their midst, who can grant a single author success above all the others—but at a cost.

A desperate spouse introduces her wife to a game about cat politics in hopes of helping her with her dementia. But when her wife turns out to be a prodigy at the game, she risks losing her forever to the fantastical gaming world.

A father and son duo attempt to navigate through a fictional video game world while they also face struggles in the real world.

A teacher on the Lower East side meets a friendly man with a presence resembling a dead English poet.

Finally at peace after decades of war, the telepathic people of Gaant and the people of Enith can coexist, including a Gaantish military officer and an Enithi nurse. The two had become unlikely friends after being one another's prisoners during the war; they'd bonded over chess, and can now finish their game in peace.

A man recalls his intimate friendship with his former English professor, who resolved to fuel his unsatisfied desire for playwriting during the time they were apart. In their reunion decades later, instead of the brilliant play he promised, the professor shows his former student a disturbing product of his mental instability.

When his social-outcast, chess buddy from high school becomes obsessed with neuroscience research to find a way to eliminate distracting side-thoughts, a man finds himself exposed to a mysterious infection that will doom his wife and himself to

When a librarian finds a moving book of poetry among a donation, she is introduced to fellow lovers of the author's work who strive to preserve the poet's desire for privacy while commemorating her work.

In Bulgaria, two men who met online play submissive and dominant roles in an innitially-consensual sexual encounter that turns into a violent assault.

Following a messy breakup, an MIT graduate and a PhD student at Indiana University separately talk about the problems in their former relationship in two spliced-together conversations, exploring conflicts surrounding language, intimacy, commitment, and intellectualism.