Welcome to the fictional town of Middling, Illinois, where ghosts conspire to redeem a troubled community. Combining social satire with humor and tragedy, these interconnected stories explore the challenges we face in an anxious time. We follow a cast of midwestern characters, dead and alive: a farmer widow, an earnest criminal, a corrupt pastor, teen-agers on a date, a phantom hitchhiker, time-traveling professors, the spirit of a guilty ad man-and one brave woman journalist, in particular. At times dark, these tales are inherently hopeful. Stories from this collection have been published or recognized in the Madison Review, Narrative Magazine, the TulipTree Review, the Bellingham Review, and the Whitefish Review. You'll find 11 original stories, richly illustrated with photos of the land that inspired them. Sample stories read by the author available at https://www.kiplingknox.com/audiobook-samples.