Let me tell you a story. No, wait, one's not enough.

I'll begin again?

Let me tell you stories of the months of the year, of ghosts and heartbreak, of dread and desire. Let me tell you of after-hours drinking and unanswered phones, of good deeds and bad days, of breaking down and making up, of dead men walking and missing fathers, of little French ladies in Miami, of trusting wolves and how to talk to girls.

There are stories within stories, whispered in ears in the quiet of the night, shouted above the roar of the day, and played out between lovers and enemies, strangers and friends. But all, all are fragile things made up using just 26 letters arranged and rearranged again and again to form tales and imaginings which, if you let them, will dazzle your senses, haunt your imagination and move you to the very depths of your soul.

The following stories are contained in this collection:

1) An introduction where Gaiman details some background on each of the stories, and includes a short-short story (The Mapmaker)

2) A Study in Emerald

3) The Fairy Reel (poem)

4) October in the Chair

5) The Hidden Chamber

6) Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Secret House of the Night of Dread Desire

7) The Flints of Memory Lane

8) Closing Time

9) Going Wodwo (poem)

10) Bitter Grounds

11) Other People

12) Keepsakes and Treasures

13) Good Boys Deserve Favors

14) The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch

15) Strange Little Girls

16) Harlequin Valentine

17) Locks

18) The Problem of Susan

19) Instructions

20) How Do You Think It Feels?

21) My Life

22) Fifteen Painted Cards from a Vampire Tarot

23) Feeders and Eaters

24) Diseasemaker's Croup

25) In the End

26) Goliath

27) Pages from a Journal Found in a Shoebox Left in a Greyhound Bus Somewhere Between Tulsa, Oklahoma and Louisville, Kentucky

28) How to Talk to Girls at Parties

29) The Day the Saucers Came

30) Sunbird

31) Inventing Aladdin

32) The Monarch of the Glen