A unified collection of stories, "Dreams and Dull Realities" plays variations on the theme of imaginations colliding with concrete reality. The collections lyrical, comical, touching, and absurd stories portray seven male and five female Irish-American and Latino protagonists whose vibrant interior lives contrast sharply with their dreary exterior lives. Beginning with the prize-winning, "Flight," the collection takes readers on a tour through childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and aging in Philadelphia and The Bronx, employing a variety of styles. Internal monologues depict the thoughts of...