"Maybe I should take a little time off-not just from my formal fiddling with the epistemological puzzles of narration, but from fiction in general-time off from imaginary people and imaginary experiences. Maybe I should try something 'conventional, ' reportorial, nonfictional-get in touch, even if just obliquely, with the real world again." Purportedly culled from a cache of donated papers, K. B. Dixon's new novel, Novel Ideas, is an unorthodox...