Baby Shoes (anthology of five shorts with a framing device)

The last words of the pitch are, "And then, there's the sequel." If you have taken a look at the pitch for ARC (the novel), then you'll know that Joey (who is my alter ego) conceived six shorts, not five. But the last story idea was a big one and "the more he thought about it, the bigger it got until this giant, sprawling, epic sci-fi adventure novel is the only format that could accommodate it." Life imitates art - or is it vice versa?