The macabre and supernatural add to the atmospherics of this beguiling collection. From the descent into madness of a man trapped in the Polar ice to a gruesome American Civil War discovery far grislier than the usual horrors of war, or the oddly ribald haunting in New Orleans to the downright bizarre man who comes to a restaurant every day to gulp down vast quantities at the shrimp buffet while his forlorn waitress seems to gain weight on his behalf. Gerrard achieves a delightful balance of whimsy and the grotesque.