Half Spirit, a young woman who's spent the past year handcuffed to a radiator by her husband, begins to hear the voice of a spider named Jimminy. She escapes from captivity and falls in love with Gil, a drug dealer traveling to swap drugs for plutonium. She follows him, afraid to approach. She is followed by Badfly, who pushes women off of ledges, convinced that they can fly; he unsuccessfully tries to kill her, then falls for her. Gil is also followed by Priest, a demonic Catholic father with a penchant for pain. The whole sordid tale is narrated by Half Spirit as she writes the tale on her naked body as she lies dying in a hospital.—James Meek <[email protected]>