A troubled Off-World Officer, running from his past, finds himself slammed directly into it when he boards the mysterious spaceship Atropa. A love-letter to the grungy science fiction movies of the 1970s and 80s.

An outlaw kills a marshal and steals his identity; a Pinkerton pursues him across the open country. He must be ruthless to survive.

An internationally respected poet announces she is going to kill herself and needs an heir and executor. Young writers drive up the mountain to compete for the position and are challenged intellectually, emotionally, and erotically.