The first story in this limited edition chapbook, "The Boy and the Devil", is my retelling of an old Norwegian folktale. The setting has changed, being more Canadianized, which came out naturally, of course. The ending of the story is vastly different though, and seems in keeping with the darker edge of a lot of folktales and fairy tales I've read, as well as with my own work. "Joy in a World on Fire" was originally to be included in my full-length collection, Beware Us Flowers of the Annihilator. I decided to take it out because it's a fairly lengthy tale, and there were already a few longer pieces in the book (one novella-length, in fact), and also because its experimental structure and style seemed outside the already extensive parameters of the collection. It's one of the weirder apocalyptic stories-and one of the weirder family dramas-I've written. The third story here, "There is Only One", is an old story that I came across while digging through my files. It just slithered its way into this chapbook and I decided to leave it where it had decided to go. The fourth story, "Gods and Devils and Those Caught Between", was written in a flash of inspiration and adds a touch of twisted hopefulness into an otherwise dark and bleak collection. It also fits, thematically, and seems an appropriately weird way to end this weird and scarce little volume.