This collection of short-short fiction by Michael Swanwick contains more than 70 stories in fewer than 100 pages. Often humorous, sometimes chilling, always entertaining, these are prime examples of a recently resurrected literary form. The title piece is a five-minute condensation of a classic of Western literature, featuring a cigar-cutter as Mephistopheles, a box of matches in the roles of Helen of Troy, an Angel of the Lord, the Light of Ontology, and a cigar as Faust himself. Swanwick's bravura imagination has resulted in a separate story for every letter of the alphabet and another set of tales for every planet in the solar system. Additionally, there is a clutch of alternate autobiographies, a novella of decadence and corporate politics in a future Venice that has been boiled down to 416 words, Picasso and Philip K. Dick as existential heroes, and a rhyme for orange. Contents “Cigar-Box Faust” “Writing in My Sleep” “An Abecedary of the Imagination” “Eight Takes on Kindred Themes” “Picasso Deconstructed: Eleven Still-Lifes” “Brief Essays” “Archaic Planets” “The Mask” “Letters to the Editor” “The Madness of Gordon Van Gelder”