A fable-like tale of a small community afflicted by a mysterious plagueJuxtaposing barbarity and whimsy, Brian Conn s The Fixed Stars is a novel that has the tenor of a contemporary fable with nearly the same dreamlike logic.At the novel s heart are the John s Day celebration and the interactions of a small community dealing with a mystery disease. Routinely citizens are quarantined and then reintegrated into society in rituals marked by a haunting brutality. The infected and the healthy alike are quarantined. In a culture that has retreated from urbanism into a more pastoral...