"There are many ways to tell a story . . . It is a question of choosing the right one." The stories in Sparks from the Fire explore a wide variety of familiar characters and settings, yet there is always something else-a shadow world that haunts, disturbs, and threatens. Sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, recluses and lovers-all find themselves shifting between realities: the prosaic and the mystical, even between life and death. The horrors and wonders of these parallel existences are often glimpsed, sometimes revealed, and occasionally overwhelm. These nineteen tales inhabit a terrain in which the uncanny may at any time intrude into everyday life.