A depressed, middle-aged San Francisco writer gives his artificially intelligent alter ego permission to assume his personality in public, resulting in an unexpected boom for the washed-up man.

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.

An accomplished but ineffectual columnist searches for fulfillment, until a death in the family causes him to question the family he took for granted.

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

A man suddenly realizes that he hates his wife, and resolves to free himself.

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

In the depths of his mind, a writer tries to uncover the autonomous, nefarious motivations of his own characters.

A young couple obsessed with syntax sets off to meet their favorite author.

Searching for a muse to inspire a novel he is attempting to write, an author in San Francisco finds his passions ignited by something much more sinister.

An American writer travels to Sophia where he meets a famous poetess. He falls in love with her and her attitude.