"The stories here deal with the quality of devotion in settings where strong belief becomes debilitating rather than empowering. For the characters in this collection, reconciliation, or other forms of compromise, is not a goal since the characters value dignity in spite of the results of its pursuit. Consequently, though not intentionally, lies and mistranslations become a part of the characters' makeup since the characters must, despite the dominant and opposing worldview of the culture, acquire life's membership, and communicate on the terms already established or inflicted by the culture. If all translations are mistranslations, and if all lies possess an aspect of truth, then depicting these characters in falsified language is appropriate, especially in achieving an aesthetic unity of thought and action. Finally, the stories aim to affirm the fact that the power of language is enough to produce victims and their retaliation against the language"--Leaf iii.