Steven Millhauser has a new book of short stories out called "Dangerous Laughter", where as usual he takes a theme or premise and elaborates on it to a conclusion. Millhauser won the Pulitzer Prize in 1997 for "Martin Dressler: Tale of an American Dreamer"; for my money though his best book was Edwin Mullhouse (full title: "Edwin Mullhouse: The Life and Death of an American Writer 1943 - 1954 by Jeffrey Cartwright") . Yes I did get those dates right, the title character died at age eleven, in a very dark way but the book was still very very good; the most precise rendition of American pre-1970s suburban childhood I've ever read. This is one of my top twenty (I never get it any lower than that) all time best books.