The Pelican Child

The protagonists of these gorgeous stories from Williams (Concerning the Future of Souls) grapple with mortality and their hold on reality. The sad and darkly funny “Stuff” begins with 60-something Henry mistakenly receiving a terminal diagnosis meant for a much older fellow lung cancer patient, before learning his own cancer is a “bit more advanced” than the other guy’s. Henry then works up the courage to tell his mother, who lives in a rest home and is “the one who was supposed to be dying, though she never did.” In the wonderfully strange “Nettle,” about the fear of growing up, a 21-year-old man claims semi-seriously that he’ll end his life before his 22nd birthday, so that he won’t reach the age his father was when he was born. “The Beach House,” an arch story of disinheritance, follows middle-aged Amber’s attempt to dissuade her father from bequeathing the family’s vacation home to his dog. Amber commiserates with a friend, who goes on a rant about their parents’ generation and the end of inherited wealth, saying, “They’re using everything up themselves, or they’re giving it to something wacky.” Throughout, William grabs the reader’s attention with striking dialogue and arresting conceits. This collection is a gift from a master of the form. Agent: Amelia Atlas, CAA. (Nov.)