Thirteen new stories from Ben Marcus that reveal moments of redemption in the sometimes nightmarish modern world. In "The Grow-Light Blues," a hapless, corporate drone finds love after being disfigured testing his employer's newest nutrition supplement - the enhanced glow from his computer monitor. In "Cold Little Bird," a father finds himself alienated from his family when he starts to suspect that his son's precocity has turned sinister. "The Boys" follows a sister who descends into an affair with her recently widowed brother-in-law. In "Blueprints for St. Louis," two architects in a flailing marriage consider the ethics of adding a mist that artificially incites emotion in mourners to their latest assignment, a memorial to a terrorist attack.