Bears pulls together two main ideas in "Tangents," one to give it structure and humanity and the other to give it interest. The structure is provided by the story of Peter Tuthy, an exile from his homeland who has been tormented for his homosexuality. The central conflict of the short story is between Peter and a society which condemns homosexuality. This clash is intensified when it appears his benign relationship with Pal may be used against him by those who are intolerant and vengeful; it is resolved by his escape out of this world altogether. Peter and his relationship with Pal also humanize a story that is focused on the abstraction of the tesseract. It is a fine achievement that Bear manages to construct a story around a difficult mathematical concept, while yet keeping the tale a human one in which the characters matter. Indeed, the...