The well-meaning protagonists of Brief Encounters with Che Guevara are caught—to both disastrous and hilarious effect—in the maelstrom of political and social upheaval surrounding them. Ben Fountain's prize-winning debut speaks to the intimate connection between the foreign, the familiar, and the inescapably human. “An impeccable debut collection; if Fountain can keep it up, he’s an heir to Paul Theroux.” - Kirkus Reviews “Wildly plotted, astutely observed, and beautifully rendered.” - Daivd Means, author of Assorted Fire Events and The Secret Goldfish “Brilliant...” - Seattle Times “An impressive and entertaining book of short stories...” - Newsday “He imbues each narrative with an understanding of international politics and conflicts, and the sticky moral complexities involved.” - Cleveland Plain Dealer “…exceptional story collection…” - Raleigh News & Observer “The work of a talented writer pursuing compelling and complicated themes.” - Austin Chronicle “...an author with a gift for reaching into the past and producing something compelling and new.” - Los Angeles Book Review “Fountain is a writer to watch; better, a writer to read.” - Buffalo News “...exceptional story collection...” - New York Times Book Review “An exceptional story collection. . . Heartbreaking, absurd, deftly drawn. . .” - New York Times Book Review “... Fountain[’s]excursions into foreign infernos have an innocence all their own.” - Cleveland Plain Dealer “Superb debut story collection... Fountain knows the Third World; he [writes] with a precision that suggests firsthand knowledge.” - Salon “[Fountain’s] really a bright light on character in extreme conditions.” - Will Blythe, The News and Observer “Ben Fountain writes the kind of stories that Robert Louis Stevenson, Joseph Conrad and Graham Greene used to write... - San Diego Union-Tribune “Exhilarating first story collection.” - New York Newsday “[Fountain] is a gifted storyteller and his collection will blow your literary socks off.” - Tucson Citizen “. . .grand. . . darkly funny. . . important as anything you will see on the nightly news.” - Deseret Morning News “Ben Fountain writes the kind of stories that Robert Louis Stevenson, Joseph Conrad and Graham Greene used to write.” - Dallas Morning News “In this first collection the author brings the virtuosity of Greene and le Carre to tales of foreign adventures.” - Boston Globe “Fountain ... gets his message across without forsaking characterization and vivid descriptiveness. . .a revealing view of the human condition.” - Miami Herald “...Fountain’s stories reach for a broader engagement...This book is a step in the right direction.” - Boston Sunday Globe “. . .wonderful. . .lush, sophisticated...very funny. . .Fountain is an original...” - Boston Herald “Ben Fountain writes deftly about fear and disorientation abroad in his first story collection.” - Outside magazine “. . .finely crafted. . . irony abounds in Fountain’s mini-theaters of the absurd.” - Texas Monthly ” ...the ambition and global outlook of Fountain’s fiction marks a welcome addition to the literature produced in our state.” - Houston Chronicle “Short-story collections don’t come much better than this. Brief Encounters With Che Guevara offers pointed prose, nimble revelation...” - Philadelphia Inquirer “Fountain... is the perfect author to convert people who don’t read short stories.” - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette “ ... Fountain chooses just the right details, metaphors, similes and descriptions...life rendered in sentences seem[s] as life lived.” - San Francisco Chronicle “... an author with a gift for reaching into the past and producing something compelling and new.” - Baltimore Sun “Ben Fountain takes readers all over the world, navigating the alleys of the human soul with an expert’s hand.” - The California Aggie “Fountain has the storytelling gifts to bring the world home to us and a moral compass set to true north.” - Gary Shteyngart, author of Absurdistan “Fountain’s confidence in taking on real world problems is matched by his reluctance to pontificate or judge.” - Nell Freudenberger, author of The Dissident “It is such an unexpected joy, in this age of introspection, to discover an American writer with a global outlook.” - Jim Crace, author of Genesis and Being Dead “[A] brilliant...exhilarating book, filled with heavenly language and insight.” - Tom Bissell, author of Chasing the Sea and God Lives in St. Petersburg “Ben Fountain...blew me out of the water. These stories are absolutely jaw-dropping.” - Audrey Bullar, team leader, Jospeh-Beth Booksellers, Cincinnati, Ohio, for PW's Galley Talk The well-meaning protagonists of Brief Encounters with Che Guevara are caught—to both disastrous and hilarious effect—in the maelstrom of political and social upheaval surrounding them. Ben Fountain’s prize-winning debut speaks to the intimate connection between the foreign, the familiar, and