[2] Saunders wrote the book over several years at Syracuse University, New York, where he is a creative writing professor.

Standing in the short-term residency zone in Outer Horner, they wait their turn to reenter their country.

The story chronicles Phil's tyrannical rise to power and his attempted Inner Hornerite genocide.

[2] Saunders wrote "Once there was a country that was too small for all its inhabitants to fit inside at once" and the story developed from that point.

[2] The abstract shapes became what Saunders regarded as "Conglomerates, composed of flesh and machine parts and vegetative portions" divided into two groups, one led by Phil, tried to eradicate the other.