Fiction. Meg Pokrass's sixth collection of flash fiction represents best in class of the short literary form: miniature stories that will jump into your lap and let you stroke them, fierce stories that will frighten you, snarl and bare their teeth. For those who don't like dogs, there are love-struck cockroaches, six-foot spiders, blue-tongued skinks, Margaret Thatcher-like spouses, and horny night bugs. Meg Pokrass's stories are about the necessary animals sitting next to all of us.