Sometimes the best judge of a book’s quality is how often you laugh. Reading Schluter’s debut collection of oddball fables, I laughed. A lot. In fact, I haven’t been swept by and engrossed in a story collection quite like this for a while. In all fables, though, the absurd whimsy is equaled out by sudden, sometimes contemplative, unease. These stories are 100% bizarre and 100% serious. Most of all, they are fun. Open up to any of Schluter’s little “cartoons,” and see.  – Nic