In the title story, a professor of children's literature discovers a bizarre synchronicity between a lost text and his illicit relationship with a student. In another story, a boy is born without a brain and his skull is invaded by a group of wild animals. Another chronicles an all-night drive through a Manhattan distinctly different from - but strangely similar to - our own. Replete with chaos, human oddities and unruly energy, this is an exhilarating collection from a true creative force in contemporary fiction.