Tea and Other Ayama Na Tales

Editor and educator Bluestein brings a versatile, captivating voice to her debut story collection set in the fictional Asian country of Ayama Na, a tiny nation recovering from a violent coup and just developing a global identity (i.e., ambivalently welcoming Western influences). In “The Artist's Story,” an American businessman travels to Ayama Na's capital to retrieve his girlfriend's schizophrenic brother, only to be met with opposition from the man's caretaker, a one-legged prostitute. “Skin Deep” digs into the conflicted psyche of a Miss Ayama Na contestant whose education has been put on hold to compete in the pageant. From the robot-smitten factory worker in “Aibo, or Love at First Sight” to the saintly tour guide in “The Blanks” whose virtue is sorely challenged by “tourists from Hell,” Bluestein explores with affection and a wicked sense of humor the excesses and arrogance of American culture amid “a nation so much older, wiser, and sadder than theirs.” Though the allegorical overtones can be initially off-putting, the intricacy of Bluestein's imagination will quickly draw readers in. (Nov.)