Laura Kasischke's stories are populated by people coming to terms with a life that is just a little bit off—there's a cooler of eyeballs in the backseat and a tiny mummified heart in the dresser drawer. Lucid and unsparing, Kasischke offers no detours around the mysteries of our own minds and motives. We're right to be spooked.

Laura Kasischke is the author of seven collections of poetry and seven novels. Her work has received many honors, including the Pushcart Prize and the Juniper Poetry Prize. Her latest, Space in Chains, is a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry.