The five stories that make up 99: THE NEW MEANING are created entirely from fragments of other works. From Abish's introduction: These works were undertaken in a playful spirit--not actually 'written' but orchestrated. The fragmented narrative can be said to function as a kind of lure--given the constraints, anything else would be beyond its scope. In using selected segments of published texts authored by others as the exclusive 'ready made' material for these five 'explorations,' I wanted to probe certain familiar emotional configurations afresh, and arrive at an emotional content that is not mine by design.