So Many Things That Want To Burn is Brian Christopher’s first collection of short stories. Using a wide variety of narrative voices, Christopher explores the often-hidden sides of human nature, delicately balancing the darker elements with both hope and humor. His characters struggle with questions about who they are and why they are here, while trying to reconcile their fear, guilt, and occasionally-twisted desires as they search for meaning, redemption, or love. In these stories, the reader gets a kind of tour through the lives and minds of people they might never encounter on their own, and even the most troubled characters can hold up a mirror to those aspects of ourselves we might not want to admit are there but which play an important role in shaping who we are, if only by showing us who we don’t want to become.