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"The Great Frustration," by Seth Fried, is a collection of wildly imaginative short stories. Soft Skull Press, the publisher, says, "Equal parts fable and wry satire, The Great Frustration is a sparkling debut. Seth Fried balances the dark — a town besieged, a yearly massacre, the harem of a pathological king — with moments of sweet optimism, researchers unexpectedly inspired by discovery, the triumph of a doomed monkey, the big implications found in a series of tiny creatures. In “Loeka Discovered,” a buzz flows throughout a lab when scientists unearth a perfectly preserved prehistoric man who suggests to them the hopefulness of life, but the more they learn, the more the realities of ancient survival invade their buoyant projections. “Frost Mountain Picnic Massacre” meditates on why an entire town enthusiastically rushes out to the annual picnic that ends, year after year, in a massacre of astonishing creativity and casualty. The title story illuminates the desires and even the violence that surges beneath the tenuous peace among the animals in the Garden of Eden. Fried’s stories suggest that we are at our most compelling and human when wrestling with the most frustrating aspects of both the world around us and of our very own natures — and in the process shows why he is a talent to be watched."

Penguin/Random House describes it as "A novel about an unlikely pair of lonely outsiders--one human, one AI--on an adventure to save the great American city of Metropolis ... In Metropolis, the gleaming city of tomorrow, the dream of the great American city has been achieved. But all that is about to change, unless a neurotic, rule-following bureaucrat and an irreverent, freewheeling artificial intelligence can save the city from a mysterious terrorist plot that threatens its very existence. Henry Thompson has dedicated his life to improving America's infrastructure as a proud employee of the United States Municipal Survey. So when the agency comes under attack, he dutifully accepts his unexpected mission to visit Metropolis looking for answers. But his plans to investigate quietly, quickly, and carefully are interrupted by his new partner: a day-drinking know-it-all named OWEN, who also turns out to be the projected embodiment of the agency's supercomputer. Soon, Henry and OWEN are fighting to save not only their own lives and those of the city's millions of inhabitants, but also the soul of Metropolis. The Municipalists is a thrilling, funny, and touching adventure story, a tour-de-force of imagination that trenchantly explores our relationships to the cities around us and the technologies guiding us into the future.

This is a novel published in May of 2019. It was named one of the best books of the month by Library Journal.

Death resulting from self harm that is intended to cause death (distinct from "self harm").

Peace. Niceness. Nonviolence. Compassion. Being a kind person and the consequences of that.

Visual or performance art focused primarily on animals (of any kind other than the strictly human kind).

Paintings (and the process/history/culture/techniques of painting for the purpose of making art (as opposed to house painting ...).

Members of the Democratic Party in the United States.