The Chimera and the Shadowfox Griefer and Other Curious People — A.R. Morlan

This companion volume to The Fold-O-Rama Wars at the Blue Moon Roach Hotel centers around outsiders, artists, and freaks (be they natural-born or self-made); three of the stories are interconnected, but they're also designed to stand alone. Each includes an afterword to shine additional light on both the works and their cultural personal inspirations. Here are four novelettes (three of them original to this book) set in a bizarrely fantastic, near-future America, filled with tattoo artists and other creative types, as well as the Hikikomori's Cartoon Kimono, the Twijfelen challenge of the Pi Zi, and the showdown between the Unnatural-Born Chimera and the Shadowfox Griefer! No one uncovers the naked, bleeding soul of modern American culture better than A. R. Morlan.