M. Shayne Bell's "Anomalous Structures of My Dreams" is set in his hometown of Salt Lake City. The narrator, stuck in a hospital bed, discovers that there is danger of infection from his roommate, and a far greater danger as well - to the fabric of life itself.

In "Vandoise and the Bone Monster," Alex Irvine employs a unique narrative device to explore the ways in which stories survive over time, to show his concern for the land Out West, and to tell a bone-chilling tale.

Set on the Gulf on Mexico, Albert E. Cowdrey's "Grey Star" unleashes a hurricane of horror.

"Old Virginia" by Laird Barron takes place during a domestic CIA operation gone bad, and suggests a new hypothesis about the lost Roanoke Colony of 1588, and, indeed, a new theory of evil.

Ursula K. Le Guin's cautionary tale of sociological ecology, "The Seasons of the Ansarac," is from her forthcoming collection, Changing Planes, and deals with a complex and beautiful alien culture.

And finally, Sheila Finch's new story, "Reach," focuses on a brilliant dancer, and on how difficult it can be to stand out in one's chosen field.