Ranging from the Caribbean to Vietnam to the American Midwest and spanning decades of tumultuous history, these books are narratives and portraits of people in extremis, struggling to survive in a world marked by grief, loss, pain, trauma, and homicidal madness. The four stories gathered here are offshoots of that larger fictional universe. Each one stands entirely on its own. Together, they shine a light on the mysteries and hidden corners of the novels that inspired them.

“Blue Rose” recounts a defining moment in the childhood of Koko’s Harry Beevers, the moment when the ten-year-old Harry discovers his capacity for violence and brutality. “The Juniper Tree” describes a lonely young boy’s encounter with adult betrayal, and with the darker aspects of human sexuality. “The Ghost Village” takes us to the phantasmagoric landscape of Vietnam, where the barriers between the living and the dead begin to dissolve. “Bunny is Good Bread” anatomizes the creation of a human monster through abuse, cruelty, and neglect.