The daily digest of Twin Cities culture | Secrets of the City

With a few novels under his belt, Minneapolis literatus Bart Schneider tackles a type of local mystery fiction that swings somewhere between the present and the future...the very, very near future.

My son's birthday party began with me looking like a giant dumbass. Big shocker there. We were in the jubilant 11:15 a.m. Backyardigans parade at the newly remodeled Nick Jr. amusement park in the center of the Mall of America. I was holding the foamy oversized hand of a teenage actor who was dressed as a cuddly moose named Tyrone from the hit kid's cartoon. When the cheery music piped in I couldn't stop myself and decided to do a little jig. As my wife gave me the "you're sleeping on the couch" stare I spastically danced like I'd been hit with defibulator paddles.