Duncker reads from her short stories Seven Tales of Sex and Death and introduces Sherrill's invenitve and brilliant  The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break, in which the Minotaur, or M as he is known to his colleagues, is working as a line chef at Grub's Rib in the American Deep South, keeping to himself, keeping his horns down, trying in vain to put his past behind him. The first novel by the critic James Wood is The Book Against God, which introduces readers to the irrepressible presence of it's narrator, Thomas Bunting, liar, doubter, and the strangest philosopher in contemporary fiction.