In these six stories, Chris Howard reasserts his talent for evoking the gritty and the apocalyptic with poetic grace. Intelligent People Speaking Reasonably follows two Iraq vets adrift in the civilian life of the Pacific Northwest. Space is Kindness witnesses the unexpected death of Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan from the perspective of a local reporter and a photographer rushing to the crash-site in 2000. Darkstar takes place in Dublin and follows...