In this collection of 26 stories, the author of The Other Shore and Death offers a wide selection of his absorbing short fiction, ranging from the realistic to the surreal and wildly satiric. Two of the stories were nominated for Pushcart Prizes: "All the Lonely People," a tragic and moving story about a middle-aged librarian and her love for a neighbor's child, and "The Iceman," about a widower whose life ends with the blood running out of his veins like the water dripping into the pans beneath the blocks of ice he had once brought to people's homes. In a different vein is "Adrift in the Global Village" about an Arab talk show hostess courted by a German pimp and an Israeli Mossad agent and/or drug dealer and "Now It Can Be Told" about a bungling American hit team looking to bring freedom and democracy to Iraq. Set mostly in an America of many shapes and colors, with an occasional side trip to the Middle East, the stories always surprise and delight in their variety and stylish wit.