In this innovative anthology of genre-spanning short fiction, each never-before-published story relates the impact of a manipulative influence on the lives of hapless victims. These poison-soaked pages offer a cruel lover who refashions her prey, a bioengineered warrior who goes on the run, an internet mapping service with a stalker's eye, a carjacker with a conscience, a Victorian thespian who turns supercriminal, and a murderer of video game characters. These stories, by writers including Jesse Bullington, Tobias S. Buckell, Ekaterina Sedia, and more, all explore the grand schemes, Machiavellian maneuvering, and the knotty, micro-scaled twistings of the human heart.