AND NOW, a few paragraphs to describe this collection, which features fifteen short stories and two novellas. These are stories of many different genres, covering a whole range of tones and time periods. There's a little girl learning to deal with a new member of the household, and there's a guy who's having a very hard time killing his coworker. There are stories set at the height of the Persian Empire, in the trenches of World War I, and on a far-off planet called SYL-33. There's slapstick and suspense, melancholy and moral dilemmas.

I feel like that pretty much covers it. It's short stories, you know? I wish I hadn't committed to multiple paragraphs here. I'm trying to think...oh, uh, well, I mean, I could describe the rest of the stories, but the surprise is part of the fun, right? I don't know. It's short stories. I don't know what else to say.

I don't have anything else to say. Please stop reading this. I'm just trying to fill up the space here. Just read the inside of the book instead. Please stop reading this. I'm serious. Stop. Please stop. There's nothing else of substance here and I'm self-conscious about it. Why won't you stop reading this? If you stop reading this now, you can have the book for free. That's actually not true. I don't know why I said that. I hope you kept reading, to read that part about that not being true. Oh, good. I am glad you kept reading after all. Anyway, please buy this book.