o of a kind, always taking their lunch together, always wearing the same sly grin. Only ever a hair away from a cold joke about how spreadsheets are a living hell; about taking a bullet if it means going home early on Friday. Sometimes in these fantasies, they're heroes being hauled out on a stretcher.

Sometimes they're the ones pulling the trigger.

Now, say these guys discover a loophole that makes some days less real than others-less permanent-and start to act out their violent fantasies without fear of reprisal. Why shouldn't they? Tomorrow, everything will go back to normal, with no one the wiser but them.

They'll always remember what it felt like to act on their basest impulses. They'll know how it could feel to do it again.

Maybe you don't know these guys. Maybe you don't want to.

Soft Targets is a reality-bending novella about malignant malaise; the surrender to violence; and the addictive appeal of tragedy as entertainment.