Stephen O’Connor is the author of six books, including Thomas Jefferson Dreams of Sally Hemings, a novel, Here Comes Another Lesson, short stories, and Quasimode, his forthcoming poetry collection. His fiction has appeared in the New Yorker, Harper’s, Best American Short Stories, and many other places. “Nothing Is Really What it Is” is the prologue to his novel-in-progress, We Want So Much to Be Ourselves.