The innovative use of convenience store phenomena weaves these nine strange tales together. The book follows a recurring character throughout the collection, Alex Aronovich, whose knack for romantic folly plagues him from Los Angeles to Moscow. Other stories (such as -A TIA for Gia, - and -Princess 7-) dance eclectically and playfully around the convenience store theme--as a painter's subject used repeatedly, from never the same point of view. Other stories (such as -A TIA for Gia, - and -Princess 7-) dance eclectically and playfully around the same convenience store theme--as a painter's...