An incisive, poignant, often hilarious exploration of contemporary relationships, Things That Pass for Love eschews the familiar “dating scene” in favor of portrayals of fractured families, urban schools, small towns, book clubs, cults, academia, golf culture, and—yes—sex in modern life.   Whether a cybererotica writer whose suitor is in love with her dog, an aging professor obsessed with the student destined to surpass him, or a man meeting his illegitimate son for the first time on a pumpkin-picking excursion, Allison Amend's characters are more than whip-smart and laugh-out-loud funny, they are chillingly real, lonely, memorable people looking for love—or what passes for it.

• For Stations West, click here.