Stories in Swarm of Five stand in complimentary contrast to one another, united by an arc of succulent imagery and memorable characters. From the wild, chaotic, wry and politically apocalyptic overtones of "Beat Me Sweetly, Heavy Jesus" to the subtle complexities of retelling the life of an unknown hero in "Legacy of a Teacher," DiPietro strives to capture a diverse sampling from the borderlands of storytelling. The pseudo-autobiographical...