Eight free-ranging stories collected here for the first time. One, an extension and a point-of-view switch on the classic Dickens tale, A Christmas Carol. The next, a riff on a story from Genesis. Then there's a contemporary story of corporate malfeasance, Mark Twain fulminating from the afterlife, a mad glodling, a dystopian vision of a justice system, a meditation of lost friendship, and a little bit of time-travel tale thrown in for good measure.