First published 1980
Dixon's protagonists stumble through a world that feels slightly askew. A man finds himself trapped in conversations that spiral beyond logic. A woman watches ordinary encounters transform into surreal confrontations. Characters speak past each other, caught in misunderstandings that reveal deeper truths about isolation and connection. Dixon writes with sharp humor that cuts close to the bone. His people inhabit familiar settings that suddenly turn strange, like looking at life through warped glass. The stories blend comedy with moments of genuine pain. Characters struggle to communicate across the gaps that separate them from others and from themselves. Each vignette captures people at moments when the ordinary world reveals its hidden strangeness. Dixon finds the absurd in everyday interactions while showing how his characters keep trying to make sense of experiences that resist explanation.
Genres: short-stories, literary-fiction, contemporary, comedy
Vibes: absurd, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: misunderstandings, unreliable-narrator
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
145 pages · Hardcover · The Johns Hopkins University Press