Mason’s superb comic timing and innate flare for irony give these stories a fresh, invigorating tone. Highly imaginative in style and technique, this unassuming collection marks the arrival of a striking new voice in fiction. The opening story, "My Own Avatar," is the grand prize winner in the 73rd Annual Writer's Digest Writing Contest, first place out of 17,584 manuscripts. In "The Dispirited Mouse," Marlow is on the brink of marriage when he takes a detour into the dark side. In "A Caricature of Faith," fifty-three year old William Candee acts out his fantasy using a computer rendition of his high school sweetheart.