The Age of Perpetual Light

These stories approach light and its effect on people from many angles, both oblique and direct, with the entire collection bookended by two stories that are part of the same narrative. The first, "No Flies, No Folly," set in late 19th-century Pennsylvania, concerns itinerant tinker Yankel and his illicit relationship with Amish farm wife Esther, to whom he brings the forbidden technology of electricity. The final story, "Hello from Here," portrays a younger Yankel, a deserter from the tsar's army, living in a Baltic photography studio writing his farewells to his family before escaping to America. "Essential Constituent of Modern Living Standards" explores the violent history of rural electrification, while "Angle of Reflection" takes on the emergence of space mirrors to counter the brutal effects of the Bosnian war. Penultimately, "The First Bad Thing" transports the reader into a stark American future of perpetual light, where the pervasive use of space mirrors to boost production has killed true night. This collection blends the evolving technology of light with its multifaceted impact on people's lives. The characters and settings are crafted with an ethereal skill that sets the mind spinning into new orbits.