"e;The beauty of futility"e; is a collection of eight stories about people whose lives are strange, and fantastic and ordinary, all at the same time. The titles give some sense of the range: Cursus caninus: emperor of the dogs; Confessions of a champ'een pie eater; A perfect human being; The transmigration of souls; Artificial light; Order of Merit; Father, father, quite contrary; Collective unconscious. Enter into a familiar world that is never quite what it seems - or all that it seems if you look at it in the right way.