The bestselling writer who took us on a cross-country journey to reveal his long love affair with chocolate in Candyfreak returns with his second accomplished short-story collection.

Once again Steve Almond has produced a funny, bracing, sometimes shocking, always imaginative collection of stories and characters: a young magazine editor enduring a bizarre blind date; a couple who are sure that they have been given implants by space aliens; a young boy desperate to please his father with his baseball prowess, who ends up fatally wounding another boy during a game; a creative-writing teacher struggling to resist his seductive student.

With tremendous heart and an unmatchable wit, Almond proves — as he did with the acclaimed My Life in Heavy Metal and the bestselling Candyfreak — to be one of the most original writers of our time.

"In this sexy, fast-paced second collection of stories, Almond, author of My Life in Heavy Metal and the nonfiction Candyfreak, takes on love and loss around the turn of the millennium, showing how average people living in big cities and university towns tackle heartbreak with humor. The title story traces the flailing love between a magazine editor and a commitment-phobic medical resident who seems too good to be true. In 'Appropriate Sex,' a refreshing addition to the growing genre of stories about the goings-on in undergraduate writing workshops, a writer-in-residence is treated to a parade of students who 'discourse on Tristam Shandy,' seduce him and get him stoned in the same office hour. 'A Happy Dream' portrays the lucky outcome of a blind date on which Kate, a bike messenger masquerading as a chimney sweep, forces Henry, a cautious sous-chef, to think on his feet. While struggling with his own recent breakup, the narrator of 'Skull' listens as his friend confesses how he and his new girlfriend are finding love in unlikely ways that involve her prosthetic eye. Almond doesn't dig too deep or offer up grand theories about romantic love, but his easy, natural storytelling and consoling reminders that intimacy is awkward and messy will carry readers happily along. Forecast: Almond scored a surprise hit with Candyfreak, his confessional tour of candy factories. This laid-back follow-up delivers more guilty pleasure and should attract — and satisfy — Almond's new fans. Author tour." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"Almond...has a nice treasure trove of ideas and a smart way with his characters, but he always seems to lose interest just as the going gets good....A distractingly entertaining second collection, nimbly executed." Kirkus Reviews

"Almond proves himself to be just as irreverent, audacious, and amusing in his new set of stories, but his subjects are more diverse....As out there as Almond gets, he never loses his down-to-earth tenderness and agile delicacy." Booklist

"[Almond] throw[s] in enough sex, wit, and brutal honesty to revive interest in the short story format....Almond's stories are often bittersweet and bordering on the absurd....They are also wildly inventive and highly recommended..." Library Journal

The bestselling writer who took readers on a cross-country journey that revealed his long love affair with chocolate in Candyfreak has produced a funny, bracing, sometimes shocking, always imaginative collection of stories and characters for this new compilation.

Steve Almond has published over one hundred stories andpoemsand#8212;in publications ranging from Playboyto Tin Houseto Zoetropeand#8212;and a two previous collections of stories, My Life in Heavy Metaland The Evil B.B. Chow. He is the author of the bestselling novel Candyfreak: A Journey Through the Chocolate Underbelly of America.