Jeffrey Butzer, writer, playwright, and musician, delivers his first collection of short stories, one-act plays, and assorted ephemera in the form of Artificial Islands.Jeffrey Butzer opens Artificial Islands with the Friedrich Nietzsche quote "Well excuuuuuuuuuuuuuuse me for living!" Whether this quote is actually attributed to Nietzsche is beside the point. The sentiment defines the characters that populate these eleven pieces: each has one foot planted in the tangible world and the other in the surreal. Artificial Islands lures us into worlds populated with cat burglars, struggling blues musicians turned detectives, likable bugs, daredevils, a medium, and a psychiatrist with an unhealthy obsession with Water World. The Crypt Keeper even breaks his silence in the form of a sit-down interview. Influenced by comics Jack Handey, Norm McDonald, and Chris Elliott, these surreal and absurd spaces both wonderful and strange.