An Indian-Malay boy tackles difficult words for his spelling bee while swimming; Sea Gypsy girls venture to the big city with their artist cousin; a Japanese-American waltzes in her family's temple; an Arab grieves for his lost Russian wife... In these stories which span Asia from Japan and Hong Kong to Malaysia and Yemen, Wes Stevens brings an enigmatic, evocative ... and laconic new voice to Asian fiction. A-R-C-H-I-P-E-L-A-G-O is not just another collection of East-meets-West stories; rather, it is a unique merging of Asian and Western voices into something completely new.