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.

An innocent introductory French course called la Muerte teaches vocabulary, by describing a typical farm until the farmer disappears.

A linguist is called to investigate robots that seem to have created their own language.

In a futuristic society, humans are bred and raised to be frozen as sculptures and displayed at art museums — until one attendee decides to set them free.

A woman has an affair with a female lover who works in retouching models and imagines retouching the woman's face and body. The lover carries multiple selves inside of her, one of them a muscular, furry, aggressive man whose body hers (the lover's) sometimes resembles in bed.

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

Vignettes of a number of relationships, most of them troubled, are glimpsed through the descriptions of creatures in this bestiary of the imaginary.

Kate's father, suffering from dementia, disappears for months at a time into the Yard, a massive antique resale business he owns and operates. Kate is tasked with retrieving him.

A grieving mother and accomplished linguist relives her child's lost life as she learns to communicate with the aliens that have landed on earth.

A young psychologist, who has the technology to watch people's thoughts as a means of diagnoses and her journey, aims to gain a better understanding herself, her patients, and her occupation.