Kissing in Manhattan Stories

Hilarious, sexy, and deeply tender,Kissing in Manhattanwas one of the most celebrated debuts in recent years. Acclaimed author David Schickler's collection of linked stories follows a troupe of love-hungry urbanites through a charmed metropolis and into the Preemption--a mythic Manhattan apartment building. The Preemption sets the stage for a romantic fantasy as exuberant, dark, and dazzling as the city it occupies. Behind closed doors, the paths of an improbable cast of tenants--a seductive perfume heiress; a crabby, misunderstood actor; a preternaturally sharp-sighted priest--tangle and cross, while a perilous love triangle builds around three characters: James Branch, a shy young accountant with an unusual love for the Preemption's antique elevator, and a strange destiny... Patrick Rigg, a Wall Street lothario who soothes his pain by seducing beautiful women, carrying a gun, and attending the nightly sermons of a foreboding priest... Rally McWilliams, a fetching, hopeful young writer who roams the city at night, searching for the soulmate she believes in but can't find... Charged with joy and a deadly sense of humor,Kissing in Manhattanis a daring new writer's vision of a world where men and women, good and evil, love and sex, meet, battle, and embrace on every street corner. From the Trade Paperback edition.

David Schickler is a graduate of the Columbia M.F.A. program. He lives in New York. His stories have appeared in <i>The New Yorker</i>, <i>Tin House</i> and <i>Zoetrope</i>.<br><br><br><i>From the Hardcover edition.</i>