Abstract
The stories in this collection are my attempt at breaking the artificial boundaries between so-called literary fiction and genre. They do this by eschewing traditional realist fetishes such as linearity, free will, imagined or spoken violence, and the possibility of epiphany. These stories seek to show that generic forms such as horror and noir are particularly apt for exploring epistemological issues ignored by most American writers and poets. For example, the problems of solipsism, ideology, psychological disorder, the unconscious, language, culture, and history as predetermining Other are taken seriously here; the implications of Postmodernism are treated to their fullest extent. In these pages, I seek to show that human rationality as formulated by Enlightenment philosophers is merely a tenant of faith. No one can escape the context that creates them.