One Man’s Trash

Magic lurks in gritty alleyways and monsters drive ice-cream trucks in Vance’s promising debut collection of 15 speculative shorts. Each story is populated with well-drawn LGBTQ characters whose queerness is often refreshingly incidental, as in the delightful “Mouthfeel” in which a man’s mouth is haunted by someone else’s taste buds. The powerful “The Ballygilbert Gasser,” in which a gay teenager longs for a different life as a mysterious alien stalks his town, speaks more deeply to the queer experience. Other standouts include “When All We’ve Lost Is Found Again,” about a man indexing satellite images while negotiating loss, and “Finch and Crow Do the Alleycat,” in which a courier races a route into the cosmic unknown. In these gems, Vance demonstrates he is best at intimate character portraits. Weaker stories, including “Other Landscapes Are Possible” and “Gold Star,” suffer for being too detached, focusing on ambitious concepts at the expense of character. But the strengths make up for the weaknesses, and Vance’s fantasy elements are all the more enchanting for being so close to reality. The mix of magic and the everyday will linger with readers long after the book is shut. (Mar.)