Stories of the fantastic that seek the human essence in their conceits. Nearly all of them have an interesting idea at their base, but most don't get much beyond seeming like an exercise in working through that idea. Still, there's plenty of potential here - and I actually picked it up because I read some intriguing notices about Gonzales' more recent novel, The Regional Office is Under Attack!, which I'll now definitely get to when it's more readily to hand. The stories that had a bit extra for me (often because they had a bit more bite to them): the one about the video game character, the one told by the zombie, the one about deciding to escape the mall, the title story.
