In suburban Wells Port, things are not what they seem: wild animals appear unexpectedly in backyards, raised garden beds produce fruit in days, not weeks, and a mysterious figure lurks across sidewalks late at night.
The stories in
Starman After Midnight
weave an often hilarious and sometimes melancholy spell. Four young boys are terrorized by a wiener dog on their walk to school, but strategize for a safer route. A beer-loving man befriends a likeminded neighbor, only to discover his jovial new acquaintance is a registered sex offender. An elderly Uber driver suspects a young rider is being lured by a night stalker and debates whether he should help her or mind his own business.
Connecting these stories are two next-door neighbors--Seff and Big Dave--who couldn't be more different: one a progressive-minded writer, the other a conservative plumber. Their love of beer drinking, backyard philosophizing, and gossiping brings them together. When several pets in the neighborhood wind up missing or worse--dead--Seff and Big Dave monitor their security cameras for the culprit. When they discover a naked man roaming their street late at night, suspicions are raised while hysteria spreads through the neighborhood social media app. What is the connection between the missing pets and this naked man? Seff and Big Dave form a posse of neighbors to find out.
Moving between humor and surrealism, friendship and grief,
is a novel told in stories, a collection that adds up to something greater than the sum of its parts. From the quirky imagination of Scott Semegran,
packs a comedic punch and uncovers the magic that seems possible in ordinary places.