In"Seconds of Pleasure," acclaimed award-winning director and playwright Neil LaBute, brings to the page his cutting humor and compelling take on the shadowy terrain of the human heart. Best known for his controversial plays and films, his short fiction has appeared in"The New Yorker"and"Playboy." Seductive and provocative, each potent and pithy tale in"Seconds of Pleasure"finds men and women exploiting -- or at the mercy of -- the hidden fault lines that separate them: In "Time Share," a woman leaves her family at their vacation home after discovering her husband in a compromising situation; a middle-aged man obsesses over a scab on the calf of a pretty young girl in "Boo-Boo"; and a vain Hollywood actor gets his comeuppance in "Soft Target." LaBute infuses"Seconds of Pleasure"with his trademark wit and black humor, and unleashes his imagination in stories that offer unflinching insight into our very human shortcomings and impure urges with shocking candor.