Garbage Night

This follow-up to Lee’s previous short story “Vacancy” (also collected here) tells a simple yet absorbing tale of friendship and survival in a postapocalyptic world. Simon is a domesticated dog abandoned by his owners after a mysterious disaster; along with his wild friends Cliff the raccoon and Reynard the deer, Simon spends his days scavenging the barren suburbs for food. When the trio meet a wandering dog named Barnaby, they decide to join him and travel to Fallbridge, a far-off town where food is rumored to be plentiful. But Barnaby turns out to be a bully, and Simon must decide where his loyalties lie. Lee’s expansive universe of anthropomorphic animals comes alive through her spare use of detail: her verbal worldbuilding gives readers just enough information about animal society and what came before to spark the imagination, and vivid, expressive cartooning fills in the gaps. The result is a quiet, heartbreaking new installment in what promises to be a tremendously imaginative serial. (June)