Journey Prize finalist Andrew Gray debuts 12 unforgettable stories-probing portraits of outsiders and lost souls who worship at the altar of medical science while secretly praying for redemptive love. From a couple whose marriage has been fractured by a car accident to a lonely surgeon who falls in love with a comatose patient, Gray's characters brace themselves for uncertain and vaguely threatening futures. Roaming from Canada to Fiji to Australia, these stories glimpse a not-so-distant future, offering a healthy dose of preventative medicine while opening new frontiers of the imagination. Gray unveils unlikely heroes hopeful in the face of extinction, redeemed by their longing to connect not with the next world but with this one.