Jeff Clulow's new collection of short stories, "The Leper's Garden and Other Contagions," is nothing short of brilliant. I knew he was a talented writer going in, having read his gothic horror novel "Veil" earlier this year. But from the opening passages of the first story, "Rats' Alley," I realized that Clulow was, in fact, a PHENOMENAL writer, one of those rare and extraordinary talents whose work is so impressive, you can't even envy it as much as you covet it, longing for even one iota of...