There is, beneath the surface of our lives, a greater significance, even hints of a greater reality. Some call this idea illumination; others, illusion. This is the world in which the stories of Out of the Alley and Other Stories are placed. Here the reader will find tales of deep despair and brilliant hope--but not always in the same story. Most of these stories take place in Manhattan, a place of chaotic energy, both creative and destructive. One character explores grimy alleys full of the discarded pieces of two lives. Elsewhere, a tortured man in crisis recreates the...