The ten stories in this collection concern love -- between father and son, mother and son, and between lovers. Spatz's watchful and aware characters yearn for permanence in their relationships: someone to hold on to, someone to come back for. While the children in these stories navigate the nuances of estrangement -- most witness the pain of one parent abandoned by the other-- the adults abide the knowledge that it is not always possible to touch with our hands what we feel in our hearts. But all continue to believe in the wonderful magic that allows them to see something vanish, then reappear somewhere unexpected. Born in New York City, Gregory Spatz holds degrees from Haverford College, University of New Hampshire, and The University of Iowa Writers' Workshop. He is the author of No One But Us, an acclaimed first novel, published by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill. Wonderful Tricks received the Mid-List Press First Series Award for Short Fiction.