10 stories about odd encounters and personal exploration: A young man in search of meaning connects with his dead girlfriend's son. A group of men in Wisconsin start a poetry group while waiting for their favorite bar to be rebuilt. A woman discovers her husband has been hiding a secret. He also wants to rob a bank. A basketball player continually relives the last six seconds of his worst game. An amateur chess player encounters greatness. A girl attempts to leave a small town. But before she goes, she learns the story of one who stayed. These stories span a variety of genres, technical approaches, and perspectives-one story is a parody, another is written entirely as a series of conversations, one story is a family melodrama, another is a contemplation of pro sports and time travel. "This 10-month project, which turned into a two-year project, represents what I love most about short stories: the opportunity to experiment and play, to expand a condensed world.