The seventy-one pieces in this dexterous, surprising collection are often weird and unexpectedly weighty, particularly for such trim stories, like Lydia Davis by way of David Lynch.

The approach feels organic, echoing the experience of families receiving letters from Vietnam “in lots of three or more.” The missives are read “straight through and out of order.”

Boyles has written stories of surprising range, while maintaining a focus on how human beings—particularly men—are imperiling our planet through careless exploitation and short-term economic goals.

Laynie Jackman darts across the country “taking leave of the dead” by dispersing the belongings of lost loved ones.

Upon discovering his dead twin, Stewart decides to dispose of the body and appropriate Brock’s identity. What could go wrong?

They aim to free chickens from imprisonment in factory farms, in order to give poultry a chance to be themselves, to live free, and to become a hale, post-apocalyptic species.

Saba and Hagos, a young girl and her mute older brother have been displaced from Eritrea during the country’s long War of Independence.