I Stand Here Ironing is a short story told from the perspective of a mother of multiple children who has been contacted by school officials about her daughter, Emily. The unnamed mother reflects on her early married life and her parenting of her daughter, a process she looks back on with mixed feelings. The mother regrets some of her harsher treatment of her daughter but also, paradoxically, wishes that she had been sterner and set better boundaries.
The Iron Heel is the story of the life of Avis Everhard in the near future after the rise of a powerful oligarchy, the title organization, of Trusts and tycoons. Avis becomes involved with a man named Ernest and the two become entangled in a rising revolution. While the revolution is eventually crushed and the two lovers executed, a secondary narrative by scholar Anthony Meredith, writing from the fictional universe's future, suggests that their efforts were not in vain.
The Man in the Iron Mask is a romantic novel concerning a man in 17th century France who is imprisoned and forced to wear a mask. In the novel, the prisoner is revealed to be the twin brother of King Louis XIV; he is smuggled out of jail by the Three Musketeers, who scheme to replace the king with his brother. The themes of friendship, honor, and justice are explored in this novel, which presents a more pessimistic view of the later years of the Musketeers.