Introduction / Jacob Weisman -- Portal / J. Robert Lennon -- Beautiful monsters / Eric Puchner -- The squid who fell in love with the sun / Ben Loory -- Five fucks / Jonathan Lethem -- LIMBs / Julia Elliott -- We are the Olfanauts / Deji Bryce Olukotun -- The region of unlikeness / Rivka Galchen -- A precursor of the cinema / Steven Millhauser -- In the bushes / Jami Attenberg -- Fugue state / Brian Evenson -- Reports concerning the death of the Seattle Albatross are somewhat exaggerated / W.P. Kinsella -- Lambing season / Molly Gloss -- Conrad Loomis & the clothes ray / Amiri Baraka -- Topics in advanced rocketry / Chris Tarry -- The inner city / Karen Heuler -- Escape from spiderhead / George Saunders -- Amorometer / Kelly Luce -- The yogurt of Vasirin Kefirovsky / Max Apple -- Monstro / Junot Díaz -- Minotaur / Jim Shepard -- Help me find my spaceman lover / Robert Olen Butler -- Near-flesh / Katherine Dunn.