In the spirit of Robert Benchley, with the updated slant of humorists such as Dave Barry, Lewis Burke Frumkes brings us Manhattan Cocktails. In this delirious collection, Frumkes parodies normalcy through mild-mannered satire, bizarre concepts, and sly sophistication.

Manhattan Cocktail intoxicates us, blending vintage Americana with modern mania. Frumkes puts a spin on our lives, adding a twist to our perceptions of children, social status, balding, executive giftmanship and all the other staples of daily living. Both old fans and new will be delighted and entertained as they immerse themselves in Frumkes' outlandish observations.

DON'T STOP WITH THE PERIOD

The richness of English comes from its enormous vocabulary—upward of a million words. But how many punctuation marks are available to help communicate all the subtlety and nuances of the language? A piddling handful of tired, overworked dots, dashes, and devices that fall short when it comes to delivering the written word as the writer intended it. Metapunctuation, the product of the brilliant if somewhat askew mind of Lewis Burke Frumkes, adds the absent flair and precision, ends ambiguity, and makes manifest all of English's unspoken jabs, frowns, inflections, passions, and innuendos with marks such as:

• phobic brackets to enclose fear gone wildly out of control
• infatuation marks to indicate a frivolous kind of love
• ring of indignation to really let 'em have it
• pasion waves for prose ranging from purple to blue
• contempto-drips for utter disdain