Book ideas to make your own

Her Alibi Is My Front Door

A woman finds that a stranger has used her front door in seventeen perfectly verified alibis. The doorbell footage shows her welcoming the stranger every time.

The Mannequins Know the Fire Drill

A fire-safety assessor finds a department store's mannequins rehearsing an evacuation nobody authorized. Each rehearsal leaves one fewer place for the living staff at the assembly point.

The House That Collects Weather Vanes

An inheritance valuer discovers that every weather vane in a coastal house points toward a sealed bedroom, even indoors. The family will sell everything except the direction in which they point.

The Duchess Was a Forged Receipt

In 1894, a department-store auditor learns that a celebrated duchess exists only as a series of fraudulent returns. A murdered clerk has signed the final receipt.

Instructions for Surviving Your Own Metaphor

A writing tutor collects accounts from people whose casual metaphors became physically true. The stories turn ordinary language into tender, inconvenient problems nobody can edit away.

The Kingdom Beneath a Sleeping Horse

A border surveyor discovers that her kingdom is painted on a sleeping celestial horse. War drums are waking it, and the safest route to peace lies beneath its ribs.

The Grandmother Who Outlived the Prophecy

At ninety-three, a grandmother is tired of surviving the death predicted for her every spring. She sets out to find who profits from promising the village that her life is almost over.

The Portrait Has My New Address

A portrait restorer finds her new address beneath a stranger's painted signature, dated before she chose the flat. Each layer she removes reveals a move someone expected her to make.