Fiction. Winner of the Tartt First Fiction Award. TALES FROM WEBSTER'S uses a simple premise: Take a dictionary, choose a word, then faithfully follow each sequential word to construct a narrative, employing no more than fifty words per sequential entry in the narrative. The logic behind the premise: In a universe that seems capricious, void of meaning, and cold, there live strands of significance, if we can but detect and tease them out. That becomes the role of the artist who is not afraid to use chance and to work within aesthetic constraints. From the unpromising material of an average dictionary, perhaps we can unveil the immense fullness of life. Or at least have fun trying.