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 Chappalwala family sends to the Mongerji’s magical letters containing animals and plants from around the world, but this practice which endured for generations comes to an end.

In Paraguay, following the end of the Stroessner dictatorship, a young man strikes a friendship of sorts with a sensational local mystic who writes letters from the ghosts of a person's past.

After being brought to life by a strange formula, an old man's Linotype machine wrecks havoc on his small print shop in early-20th-century New York.

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.

An author discusses with his friend the best way to write about a poor aunt. Their words take on a new power when he manifests a literal poor aunt on his back and draws in spectators.

A twenty-two-year-old male tutor gives various women feedback on their writing in letter form. When he quits his job, he visits one of his former correspondents for lunch at her apartment.

In small town in Iowa, a woman who works at the American Gothic House forms a relationship with a famed serial killer. She begins to think about violence, death, and who has the power to kill.

A Los Angeles speech pathologist is assigned to the case of a presumably mentally-ill woman who speaks in gibberish that turns out to be Old English. When the woman disappears, deciphering her mysterious writing leads the pathologist to wonder if she has stumbled across a time traveler.