In his debut collection of short stories, Bald Spots & Blue Suits: Modern Fables, Henry Henkel leads his characters through a labyrinth of transformation where ordinary events have extraordinary repercussions. An unexpected romance interrupts the dreary routine of an embittered middle-aged traveling salesman; a mysterious windfall from a penitent sinner enables a blind priest to realize the parish of his dreams; a successful prospector struggles to free himself from the fetters of his riches. Each of the characters in these ten stories searches desperately for an escape from Thoreau's life of "quiet desperation;" those fortunate enough to find the exit must then wrestle with the unexpected consequences. Using the framework of the fable, Henkel explores man's struggle with alienation and loneliness, his search for truth and love in an illusory world. He draws on Hawthorne's themes of salvation and redemption to upend our perceptions of good and evil, freedom and bondage.