Suzanne Burns' Misfits and Other Heroes is a wickedly insightful, brilliantly constructed collection of fourteen stories which are at once fearless and full of hope. In tales of the familiar turned on their heads, Burns introduces us to lovers and travelers, dreamers and daredevils, a man the size of a drinking straw and a magician with a masochistic streak. Acts of murder and mayhem run alongside a middle-aged woman dreaming of a different life. In each tale, Burns consistently hits the perfect chord. The stories do not just present the strange, but use the bizarre to accent what is human in all of us.Mixing the best of Chuck Palahniuk with the keen clever humor of Aimee Bender, Burns is a writer of unique wit and wisdom. Misfits and Other Heroes is a debut not to be missed.