This collection of short stories is social storytelling at its best, only it's the stories which are social, not the storytellers.

If you've never read a Paul Jessup short story, imagine you are riding a camel through the desert. Now imagine your camel is suddenly flying, and now that it has grown jet wings and is plunging toward the ocean. In fact, you are now no longer even on a camel, but you can still feel the sand gritting the thin space between your eyelids and your eyes, you can still smell the desert clinging to your nostrils. That is a Paul Jessup short story.

Now imagine an entire wondrous collection of these.

There are eight stories in this small collection, but that is more than enough to satisfy your craving for an odd journey. Particular favorites of mine include:

"Stone Dogs"--a snowstorm-trapped school full of teenagers, where boys turn to beasts and giants wage war outside; the teachers are not to be trusted.

"The Drinking Moon"--a story about watching stories change; even as you blink, they change again

"It Tasted Like the Sea"--a woman becoming another woman, lost in the maze of a small apartment, and surrounded by the discarded remnants of other women; the line between art and obsession blurs.

The women in these tales are broken creatures, like fragments of mirrors reflecting each other, and the worlds they are trapped in are rarely kind. There is a truthfulness to their tales, though, a desperation seeping between the lines. Some escape their fates, perhaps to make better lives, or at least better mistakes. Others are not so lucky.

If you enjoy reading something a bit strange, a bit surreal, and sometimes painful in the reality behind the curtains, then read this.