Note that this novel is divided into two volumes. The stories of Frameshifts portray an imaginary region of Northern Virginia from the present time to the next century. A novel made of eight stories in different genres, it is also a meditation upon loss and transience of special people and of our diminishing habitat. Readers will enjoy trying to solve the murder mysteries, be intriqued with the way characters move between the stories, be puzzled by the relationship that leads a young gay teacher to commit suicide, be surprised by the way the novel takes a turn into science fiction, and be pleased by the way the first six stories have prepared them to understand the two narrative poems at the end of the book.