A collection of forty-one intensely compact stories that wrap the reader in intensity, craving, and ecstasy, all at play with humanity's tenderness and vulnerabilities. In "Freefall" a young woman jumps from three thousand feet, her parachute fails to open but a voice in her head changes her life forever. "The Gift" is set in Beijing, where an American scientist wrestles a Chinese combatant for sport during Operation Desert Shield. In "Martinis, Limes & Puberty" a young girl's aunts and blood cousins lift her from a turmeric bath and dress her for a puberty ceremony. Edgy and raw, insightful...