Thirst
Five stars and a 10-gun salute: Kalfus fractures the concept  of traditional short fiction with this debut collection.   Deservedly cheered by David Foster Wallace ("Infinite Jest";  "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again"), Kalfus's   audacious stories have both charm and vision in multiple   formats that reflect fiction's fabulous future.The premier vignette, "Notice," explores the concept of  "thirst," the interminable yearning that shapes human  curiosity and achievement. Cynically set in the language of  copyrights and legalese, "Notice" depicts the love life of  the printed word, from its visceral seductiveness to our  jealous control of its activities. In "Bouquet," a young au  pair's aversion to open sexuality leads to a strange gift  from a man who has been following her: a bouquet of flowers  with a surprise that separates the prudish from the  practical."The Republic of St. Mark, 1849" is an absolute jewel,  surprising in its juxtaposition of the horrors of war and  the mystical capacity of the human spirit. Alexandro "has  been dying his whole life," but the eerie weapons of  balloons and braziers that torment his besieged city finally  bring him to death's surprising threshold, lofted into  thinnest air by his own imagination.Ken Kalfus quenches one's thirst for entertaining and  intriguing fiction.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.