Trinie Dalton is back with a new compilation of short stories and, true to her outstanding form, her stories are vividly imagined. Yet they also represent a more grounded approach in her style. Stories include Pura Vida,' in which a Joan Didion-obsessed starving journalist struggles to maintain a relationship with her performance artist sisters (or anyone, for that matter) while on assignment in Costa Rica to write an article on sloth-hugging. 'Millennium Chill' is about a woman who discovers that her body heat is mysteriously linked to that of an elderly beggar.'