What if there was a city that consisted only of restaurants? What if Paul Gauguin had gone to Greenland instead of Tahiti? What if there was a field called Umbrology, the study of shadows, where physicists and shadow puppeteers worked side by side? Tim Horvath explores all of this and more as he blends the everyday and wondrous to contend with age-old themes of loss, identity, imagination, and the search for human connection.

Full of speculative daring though firmly anchored in the tradition of realism, these stories easily stand in the company of contemporary masters such as Steven Millhauser and Jim Shepard. Whether making offhand references to Mystery Science Theater, providing a new perspective on Heidegger’s philosophy and forays into Nazism, or following the imaginary travels of a library book, Horvath’s writing is as entertaining as it is thought-provoking.