Bring Us a Dream

In the opening of “Sandman,” the fifth story in Kim Fu’s Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century, Kelly, a chronic insomniac, receives a visit from the title character. He appears at her bedside in the dead of night to dump copious amounts of sand into her mouth. Kelly lies still as a deluge of dust swells through her insides, weighing her down until she drifts into a deathlike slumber. It’s an absolute miracle. For Kelly, “unbroken stretches of consciousness” have dulled the natural highs and lows of life, leaving space for only the most middling experiences: calibrated office chatter, a “vague, lackadaisical” romance. The Sandman eviscerates her daily torpor and offers her restorative rest, a nourishing oblivion — and, to dig a little deeper, the exquisite sense of being chosen.

This story — one of the strongest in the collection — enacts Fu’s twin preoccupations with...