Written in original, humorous, and innovative ways, these 11 richly varied stories expose the risks in finding shelter in unaccommodating places. Exploring the precarious lives of an accident-prone Chinese construction worker with a dark secret, a fatally ill Canadian artist who remains in Beijing after the 2008 Olympics, a grieving barber who makes a gruesome discovery about his Czech lover, and a couple who make a shocking, last-minute decision about their adoptive child, these unforgettable narratives—both dark and emotional—travel from China to Canada and Europe to convey vivid descriptions and a nostalgic appeal.

Royston Tester grew up in Birmingham, the English Midlands. Before emigrating to Canada in 1978, he spent time in London, Barcelona, and Melbourne. A Canadian citizen, he is a fellow of the Hawthornden writer” retreat in Scotland, the Valparaiso Foundation in Spain and is a frequent Leighton Studio artist-resident at the Banff Centre for the Arts, Alberta. He was educated in English and European Literature at Essex University in the UK and in Modern British Literature at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. He has published short fiction in numerous Canadian literary journals, including Descant, the New Quarterly, the Antigonish Review and the Malahat Review; his work has been anthologized in Rip-Rap and Intersections (Banff Centre Press) and the Quickies series (Arsenal Pulp Press); in 2003 he was shortlisted for Pagitica?s International Literary Competition. In the US his stories have appeared in online publications such as Blithe House Quarterly, Lodestar, and the anthology Everything I Have Is Blue (Suspect Thoughts Press); in 2002 he was a finalist in the US New Century Writer Awards. Currently working on a novel, Heather's Masterpiece, Tester lives in the Little Italy area of Toronto.

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