Bad boy -- Look at your game, girl -- Sardines -- The night runner -- The mirror, the bucket, and the old thigh bone -- Cat person -- The good guy -- The boy in the pool -- Scarred -- The matchbox sign -- Death wish -- Biter -- Acknowledgments.

A couple becomes obsessed with their friend hearing them have sex, then seeing them have sex ... until they can't have sex without him; a ten-year-old's birthday party takes a sinister turn when she wishes for "something mean"; a woman finds a book of spells half hidden at the library and summons her heart's desire: a nameless, naked man; and a self-proclaimed "biter" dreams of sneaking up behind and sinking her teeth into a green-eyed, long-haired, pink-cheeked coworker.

In this collection, Roupenian's stories explore the ways in which women are horrifying-- as well as capturing the horrors that are done to them. These are stories about sex and punishment, guilt and anger, the pleasure and terror of inflicting and experiencing pain. Fascinating and repelling in equal measure, the stories range from the mundane to the supernatural. -- adapted from jacket.