All the stories in this volume are set in the year 2050, in The City. Though they are set in the future, and though science has a role to play in some of them, these are not science fiction stories. Some of the stories are related to each other. This form, stories loosely related to each other and set in the same world, does not yet have a name of its own. The stories tell of some curious characters in The City -- extraordinary, solitary individuals -- some children who may or may not be solitary, a pair of lovers, a butterfly expert, a painter, a nurse, an ex-hacker, an inspector and a serial killer, a software developer and coder etc. . .