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.

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.

Is it better to have a human civilization devoid of art and culture than to have none at all? Three Earth ambassadors must whether to annihilate a space colony that has traded away human consciousness for a hive mind that feels nothing but the need for survival. In the distant future, three humans in possession of nuclear warheads must decide whether to allow a remarkable human variant species without consciousness to dominate the galaxy or destroy them forever.

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.”

A maid, silently and in thought alone, contemplates her own position in a house full of opulent, decadent lives.

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

A woman embarks on a treacherous, snowy journey to help her friend.

A mother, her two children, and their stepfather come over to a friend’s for a dinner on Labor Day.