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Two movie-theater projectionists become addicted to "fixing" blockbuster films. An aged woman claims squatter's rights at a Congo-themed mini-golf park. An eleven-toed breakfast food designer tries to save a doomed relationship by attempting a foolish stunt. Nickalus Rupert's stories unearth humor and tenderness within the most trying aspects of being human. Bosses of Light and Sound will make you uncomfortable in the best way as characters struggle to negotiate circumstances that range from ridiculous, to excruciating, to improbably sublime.

Monstrous immortality, reincarnation, eternal recurrence, never-ending gender, virtual sex, multiple organisms, reclusive regiments: FLAPPERHOUSE #9.

Lightning Flowers traces the psychological collapse of Waylan Dranger, an East Texas construction worker / folk artist. Waylan suffers from hallucinatory encounters with Reeve, his missing brother. Reeve often blames Waylan for his disappearance and implied death. Waylan also worries that Sam, his live-in girlfriend, will leave him before he can resolve his own increasingly erratic behavior. Largely, Lightning Flowers is preoccupied with the consequences of nostalgic thinking. Among others, the novel grapples with the following questions: What defines contemporary notions of "brotherhood"? To what extent does one's survival necessitate self-delusion? How do social stigmas inform our experience of mental illness?

ABSTRACT: Unreal Cities follows three protagonists through war-torn America, which is divided into northern Mainland and southeastern Cumberland factions. "Whalekeeper," set in Cumberland, chronicles the exploits of Murray The Chosen, an aquarium owner who models his own religion on a distorted version of the "Book of Jonah." Murray must decide whether to protect his prize orca or offer it up to the starving townspeople. "This Year's War," told in first-person, defines a moral impasse for its protagonist, an aged soldier who feels he can no longer take part in battle. The speaker must risk one more skirmish or find an escape. "What the Mountain Said" explores Hawaii as the world's last warless sanctuary in Unreal Cities. Maui is overpopulated to the point of needing a governor: Cassidy, a guilt-addled refugee who attempts to forestall a volcanic eruption.