Abstract
The stories in this collection reflect a collective sense of unease, both with place and with self. In every case, the character is searching for a center, for something that will hold true—for a compass that will always point to the truth. The question characters and readers must grapple with is whether such a compass exists in the first place. While some narrative traditions have used alternate storytelling techniques to express a similar sense of unease or dislocation (metafiction or postmodern fiction, as primary examples), I present each of these stories in a very traditional framework. Narrative design, in other words, offers no way out. The language in which I present these stories is meant to convey the shadows that linger behind our words—one is able to see the shadow, but never to grasp it. The shadows, in turn, represent the vaguest glimmer of things we know to be true but struggle to accept.