Bernard Cooper's fiction probes some of the most perplexing experiences of modern American life: the unpredictable nature of love, the riddle of sexuality, the intricacies of family relationships, and coping with loss in the age of AIDS. With his razor-sharp wit and unsparing honesty, Cooper peels back layers of the familiar, exposing the surprising truths that shape our lives.

In "Bit-O-Honey, " a middle-aged barber visits his estranged father on Halloween, disguised as a trick-or-treater; a young pregnant woman in "What to Name the Baby" negotiates life with her father and his elderly lover while traveling in a cramped Winnebago; and in "Hunters and Gatherers, " a Mormon couple orchestrates a misguided party game while hosting a dinner for the few homosexuals they know.

Whether Cooper is writing about a dying man's acts of vandalism, a divorce under house arrest, or a young boy's sexual awakening, his stories contain startling insight into the workings of the human heart. Resonant and often hilarious, the stories in "Guess Again" are unlike any you have read before.