The Inelegant Universe

A baker's dozen of stories about wives, lovers, mothers, publishers, teachers, petty criminals, pigeons, and fossils of flesh and stone, with settings ranging from the towering Sierra Nevada to the flatlands of Indiana.When dance academy student Emilee must spend the night on a haunted stage as a part of a hazing ritual, she is terrified. For as long as she could remember, she has heard stories about the dancing mannequin with a silver, rust covered mask that prompts young ballerinas to dance in the middle of the night. When they want to stop, he snaps their bones, starting at their ankles and moving on to their necks. Still, Emilee is a logical person. She knows that there is no such thing as ghosts. After a man dressed in black wearing a silver mask comes on stage, she thinks that it is just enhanced hazing meant to frighten her. She is determined not to be humiliated and begins to dance with him. Only too soon she realizes her masked partner was not a part of the school hazing ritual. She has two choices, dance all night and suffer or let him snap her joints, one by one.