The Sadness of Sex — Barry Yourgrau

From the man The New York Times Book  Review called "an uncommon  diagnostician of the curiosities of the human heart" and  hailed on NPR (National Public Radio) as "the  stand-up comedian of the unconscious" comes  this extraordinary new collction of metaphor-rich,  wildly imaginative short-short stories. Barry  Yourgrau, who performs his written work in clubs  across the country and on NPR, Comedy Central, MTVs  Spoken Word programs, and in an upcoming one-man  feature film, now explores the imagination's twilight  terrain in which love, lust, and loss reside in  this achingly beautiful and rich surreal tour de  force. An affair with a cannibal woman is filled with  devouring kisses. A flower sprouts from a woman's  flesh wherever a man kisses her, impeding their  lovemaking. An abandoned lover seeks repair of the  cuckoo clock that is his heart. Exploring the  archetypal he-and-she from the first glance to the  last tortured look, this exhilirating new collection  of flash-fiction--short-short stories thematically  connected--merges Freud with Fellini, Kafka with  Woody Allen. At once sad, alarming, and wickedly  brilliant, Barry Yourgrau is, in the uneasy land of  desire and heartbreak, the spokesman for our  secret self.