<p>Potently witty， neurotic and nervy， <em>Come Up and See Me Sometime</em> marks the arrival of an irresistible new voice in fiction. Erika Krouse's debut story collection about sex and the single girl is smart， sharp-tongued and delightfully addictive. </p>

<p>The thirteen stories in this collection are linked by a common theme: the main characters are all young， childless， geographically and emotionally nomadic women who are searching for self-knowledge and satisfaction in the face of the vicissitudes of single life. </p>

<p>In Krouse's able hands， each of these agile stories manages to cull universal truth from idiosyncratic experience and delirious humor out of deepest pathos. &quot;The Fast&quot; is about a woman who seeks power， independence and immunity from heartbreak through a brief flirtation with a latte diet. &quot;Drugs and You&quot; is the story of an innocent woman who hits a heroin addict with her car and falls blindly in love. In &quot;My Weddings，&quot; a woman nearing thirty relates a lifetime of attending nuptials， none of them her own. </p>

<p>Mae West， pop culture's original Liberated Woman， is the ingenious guiding spirit of the collection. Her famous quips -- &quot;Peel me a grape，&quot; &quot;Come up and see me sometime，&quot; &quot;I used to be Snow White but I drifted&quot; -- stand as both complement and telling counterpoint to the lives of Krouse's diverse characters. These are smart， searching， quick-witted women who may strive for the unflappable sass and self-sufficiency of a Mae West， but more often fall prey to their own anxieties. </p>

<p>Erika Krouse's perfect comic timing and dead-on one-liners lend levity to each story， and ultimately these seemingly everyday experiences become sly riffs on common fears of loneliness and isolation. <em>Come Up and See Me Sometime</em> is a delightful， thought-provoking and consistently surprising read.</p>