PIERCINGS is a collection of sad and hilarious love stories, some of which may be autobiographical. COOLEY’S REEL tells of a loving Irish Da, who comes back from the dead to walk his daughter Shauna down the aisle on her wedding day...if she’ll let him do that now, given his new gender. DARK WINDOWS tells of Steve and Raine, a couple whose marriage has been built around lost love and layers of lies; will Jules help them find the truth at the center of the pearl?. PLAYLAND FOREVER tells of Richard and Leslie, a couple whose invisible friends, Zoltar and Laffin’ Sal, may help them realize how to live the lives they truly need. MANHATTANS IN MONTCLAIR tells of Steele and Risa, an older couple who share a dangerous secret, which will force Steele to tell the truth—to Risa as well as his girlfriend, Zahra. THE TALE OF SETSUMI AND HER BELOVED NOBU tells of Nobu’s grief as he longs for his lost SETSUMI. Will he find the courage to outwit Namazu (a river monster) and Lord Shinigami (Lord of the Dead)? Can he perform an impossible task, and help Setsumi’s spirit travel to the Pure Land---though in doing so, he may lose her forever? Perhaps the entire anthology may best be summarized in the prologue: