Computer-linked Lung People, all geniuses, dangle in a warehouse, grapes to be sucked. An old man becomes a bird and the wind. Hitler chokes on his lunch. London and Tokyo form the backdrops for a monstrous murderer and a suicidal romantic. An odd teenager makes his love-rival vanish. A 'lava lamp' baby is born in a skid-row clinic. Whether Minimalist in style or traditional; whether poignant, joyful, strange or macabre, these tales, as the subtitle says, depict "Life both Beautiful and Monstrous."