Ghosts Doing the Orange Dance, by Paul Park

The past couple of days have been devoted to Ghosts Doing the Orange Dance, a nebula-nominated novella by Paul Park. It is a very literary tale, and ties together with nice subtlety. It is set in the near future, in a period of breakdown. The protagonist is trying to sort out his family history--several minor intellectuals, each with a disparate contribution to the final theme. The trope is familiar as a set of strange stories, or rather, ordinary stories with strange parts to them, far enough in the past that it seemed hard to believe they were truly made up. The defenders of this world are an unlikely lot. Not sure it's a winner, but I give it 3 stars and enjoyed it.