A child becomes lost in the gap between his mother's idealism and his grandfather's complacency and rejection. A woman struggles to give birth to her true identity while questioning the paternity of her unborn baby. A scientist hires a street person to clean his house and encounters more than he bargained for. Combining social realism with a keyhole view of the unexplained, the author explores these and other themes of self-deception, alienation and love, set in the same uncelebrated New England town. Peril & Other Stories is a finalist in ForeWord Review's 2011 Book of the Year competition, in the short story category.