Collected short stories by Michael Hopping. The renovation of a backwoods motel reveals a previously unknown and powerful fresco, apparently concealed by the artist who created it. A young man, unsure about his own artistic career, asks himself why. In pursuit of an answer, Clayton stumbles across questions about himself he's never thought to ask. The other protagonists in this richly told collection of short stories could well sympathize with Clayton. Some struggle with idealism, others with innocence or what constitutes a healthy family, or such subjects as the dawn of premeditation, the...

Caitlin Schmidt didn't set out to be an enemy of the State. She just happened to be there when Xan, a reluctant hero of the Great Memphis Quake, rekindled her spirit of resistance. Years later, when she encounters him again, their romance is as dangerous as it is inevitable. Caitlin and other members of the Digger underground are challenging a corporate polluter, but now opposition to free market expediency is defined as terrorism, and the Diggers must confront-and elude-the Integrated Security Authority, whose secret police are ruthless.