An intriguing assortment of tales dealing with a diverse range of issues and topics, including gender roles and identity, faith and unbelief, freedom and control, collective memory and the abuse of history, education and authority, childhood and adolescence, innocence and remorse. Whether set in a fantasy world or the Old West, the recent past or contemporary America, an imminent or distant future, these stories are always thought-provoking, sometimes amusing, often disturbing, and occasionally downright terrifying.