Richard Paul Russo is known for his dark and sinister views of the future and the human spirit. In his first collection of short fiction, Russo presents a wide variety of tales-"More Than Night" and "In the Season of the Rains," tales of gritty alien encounters, and the ultimate road story, "Just Drive, She Said." In other stories, the hopelessness of the human condition is examined-on Earth in "Cities in Dust," in space in "The Open Boat," and in an alternate reality in "Prayers of a Rain God." Of the 14 tales, 11 are set on Earth-and Russo's Earth can be far more alien than other worlds.