While none of the stories in Tabloid Dreams connect specifically with Viet Nam war themes of veterans or refugees, a number of factors in the stories do show parallels to or variations on characterizations or plot figures in Butler's warrelated works. "Jealous Husband Returns in Form of Parrot" uses the idea of a human consciousness carried within a parrot. His "Mr. Green" in A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain (1992; see separate entry) uses the same premise. However, in "Jealous Husband . . .," the narrating persona is within the parrot; in "Mr. Green," the narrator is the woman who owns the parrot and recognizes her Grandfather's spirit in its actions. The frustrated boys in "Nine-Year-Old Boy is World's Youngest Hit Man" and "Boy Born With Tattoo of Elvis" bear similarities to the rebellious teenager, Tony, in The Deuce.

"Every Man She Kisses Dies," "Woman Struck by Car Turns...