A catalog of the tools different alien species use to read and write, leading to fundamental questions about what it means to make patterns of knowledge against the noise of the universe.

A writing critic reviews the construction of Charles Chesnutt’s stories and how to write surfiction.

The ex-wife of a famous male writer considers a story he wrote about a neighbor they once had.

A woman, living with her husband, is overcome with a strange, inexplicable ailment to her body.

A daughter, on the verge of becoming a mother, learns a great deal in spending time with her own mother.

At the root of her complicated family formed by her father and stepmother, a girl faces years of abuse through what they consider to be a “royal beating.”

Years after facing abuse from the hermit overseeing a nature preserve, two children—now adults—enact their revenge.