Connections
is a collection of short stories about travelers: Travelers compete for a connecting flight, which triggers a cascade of unexpected events; a touring band of musicians plays at a roadhouse in a mountain town harboring a secret; long-distance lovers struggle for meaning in the concrete canyons of Manhattan; and a writer figuratively travels back in time to share the wit and high-jinks of his best friend. "And Even Shorter Stories" offers one-page vignettes that include a dog that can read, kitchen dancing, artificially intelligent robots that can master any difficult task (but one), an imagined rampaging beast in a Seattle neighborhood, and a boy who believes he invented the world.