“I love Ryan MacDonald’s stories for their humor and absurdity, their intuitive logic,

their beguiling juxtapositions. They are sweet and cruel and plaintive, and they express,

in changing terms, our failures and obsessions, the plain ways we neglect and punish

and please and love and forget one another.”

—Noy Holland, author of Swim for the Little One First, and Bird

“Ryan MacDonald's short tales of seemingly quotidian life lead us to the end of the

diving board—and then leave it to us to take the plunge into the depths of exploding

implications. Everything's normal, until it isn't. Through these stories MacDonald

invites us to look around our own lives and wonder what is moving around just

beneath the surface and about to break free to surprise or frighten us.

A stimulating, intriguing collection.”

—Stanley Crawford, author of A Garlic Testament and Log of the S.S. the Mrs Unguentine