Two (Tiny) Watershed Moments for me

Two small things that mean the fucking world to me are now true! Or said another way, I get to tick two more boxes in my life goals list as a literary (non)fiction author.

I’m in The Rumpus at last!

One, I’ve been submitting short stories and essays to The Rumpus for over a decade. I’ll continue to do so in the future as well. But one of the things about having a great publicist is that they open up doors to you that you can’t open yourself, which is part of the reason that great publicists are worth their weight in gold, and for me, that means being in a dope interview in The Rumpus about one of my books. In this case, DREAM POP ORIGAMI.

I’ll be reading at the Woodmere Library (the Main Library) in TC!

Two, I’m going back to Traverse City, Michigan later this week to give a reading at the Woodmere Library from DREAM POP ORIGAMI as a published author and Brilliant Books, the awesome local bookstore in TC, is going to be selling my memoir. This is something I’ve wanted and daydreamed about since I began my MFA back in 2007. Every time I’d looked up tickets to TC, they were way too expensive. Actually more expensive than flying from LAX to Rome. But after spending time with an old friend of mine from Traverse City in Portland, Oregon, of all places, I got the hookup. This opportunity just kinda fell onto my lap and now I’ll be able to see old friends, classmates, crushes, and ex’s for the first time in thirty years. Can you believe that shit?

Interview with Bonnie Nadzam up at Lit Pub

My interview with my good friend, fellow Midwesterner, & USC cohort, Bonnie Nadzam, is now up at Lit Pub and I have to say, it was absolutely one of the most interesting, intelligent, & culturally relevant talks I’ve had with anyone in a long time, in person or via email. Until we can kick it at a local café in LA, this conversation will have to do. On a rainy day, it almost feels enough.

Amnesia of June Bugs is a Bookshop New Release Title!

A Bookshop New Release!

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A Bookshop New Release! ::

I know it’s all about the little victories as a small press author, so of course I’m fucking ecstatic that Amnesia of June Bugs was one of just nine books included this week in Bookshop’s new releases! Sharing space with Viola Davis and Vaishnavi Patel, among others, my debut novel is off to a rocking start and I’m so grateful. Support your local bookstore by buying your copy here.

Pub Day for Amnesia of June Bugs!

It’s official! Amnesia of June Bugs is now out there in the world! I really can’t wrap my mind around that fact, least of all because for so much of my life, this novel has been inside my head, contained in my thoughts, stuck in the fortress of my heart, and sentenced to the prison of Word document. If you’ve been reading my blog, then you know I submitted a version of this novel to the Kaya Press editorial board back in 2015 after having worked with the smart and savvy Sunyoung Lee for two years on all the things the board wanted us to change (which we did dutifully). And while I was totally gutted after the second and final rejection, I’m happy now to see this novel reaching its audience at a moment in time when I think readers are craving complex, non-reductive narratives about BIPOC characters and their unique navigation of reality in this world. So, do yourself a favor and grab yourself a copy if you haven’t already! My debut novel will do the rest!

Amnesia of June Bugs is the Book of the Day!

I’m stoked that Amnesia of June Bugs not only received 5/5 stars at Foreword Reviews, but is also a Book of the Day too. TBH, I don’t know a lot about book reviews, but from my limited understanding, this is a huge little thing. For literary fiction writers like me, though, it’s a moment of tiny triumph and acknowledgment that I’m going to fully embrace. I’m here for this kidna shit in 2022!

AWP & SWOL Readings!

My first three readings of 2022! One for SWOL (remote), a second one for an off-site reading at Drinker’s Pub in Rittenhouse Square, and a third off-site reading at the Whiskey Room of the Loews Hotel in Philly.

Cover Reveal for Amnesia of June Bugs!

After months and really, years of anticipation, my debut novel, Amnesia of June Bugs has a cover at long last! I can’t even begin to tell you how exciting, how deeply fulfilling, how incredibly satisfying it is to see the face of this novel. Part of my excitement is based on the fact that this novel was my MFA thesis at Notre Dame. I finished a version of this novel back in 2007 and then spent the next twelve years revising it over and over again, mostly on my own and then later with Sunyoung at Kaya Books, whose brilliance really helped push this book and who fought so hard for it. She lit did everything in her power to get the board to accept it for publication. When they rejected this novel, my heart was broken for years. It hurt even more that this book was rejected by the only mainland AAPI press in the whole country. Talk about damage to my soul!

The truth is, I actually abandoned this novel for years, heartbroken and afraid that I was the only one who saw its literary worth. In the back of my mind, though, there was this silent voice in my head that knew the board was wrong, that they didn’t know a dope book when they saw one. I believed that this book would someday find the right publisher, that with enough revision, dedication, dedication, and hard work, I could not only turn this novel in the tiny little masterpiece that it is today, but just as importantly, find the right home for it. I just needed to find the right (small) press that published transgressive work, that sought books that were audacious, creative, ambitious, multimodal, highly imaginative, beautiful, and a little experimental, and that’s exactly what I found when Leland, the editor at 7.13 Books, emailed me and said his 2021 catalog was full but that he was open to bumping my novel to the 2022 catalog. I said fuck yes and now my baby has a face!

Stay tuned for updates, interviews, reviews, and more!

Los Angeles Review of Books Interview for CLS&OE

I talked with my talented, generous, and smart friend and fellow fiction writer, classmate, colleague, and Midwesterner writer in exile, Bryan Hurt about a ton of shit: Counterfactual Love Stories & Other Experiments, grad school, living and studying in LA, workshop at USC, exploring the counterfactual reality of Los Angeles, nostalgia, mixed-race identity in the Midwest, writing from the outside, the role and mission of experimental writing, and the value of pyrotechnical syntax on the page, among other things, for the Los Angeles Review of Books. If you have a second, please read this interview, which will definitely be one of the most interesting ones you’ll read this month. I promise.

Two Interviews for Two Versions of the World

In the past couple weeks, I’ve done a bunch of interviews—all of which I loved, all of them for different reasons—and the ones I did with Gauraa at No Contact Magazine and with Peter at ZYZZYVA are very close to my heart. My interview in ZYZZYVA was a joy because Peter was a smart and insightful reader who noticed things I really wanted readers to notice, like for example, that “Sola’s Asterisk” is in the middle of the collection because that short story is essentially the heart of this collection in so many ways, both as microcosm and macrostructure. Beyond that, I love and respect ZYZZYVA so much, so having an interview in that journal about my debut short story collection is a huge fucking deal for me. And my interview in No Contact was a joy because Gauraa brought critical and cultural theory into a really smart conversation while focusing exactly where I wanted her to, the discussion of small presses, BIPOC identity and characterization, nonlinearity, and a sustained conversation about the interludes in this book. Beyond that, I loved the medium for our interview done completely with Instagram DMs. So, I got to enjoy both old school and new school interviews using different media while have some dope conversations in the process. Life is good!

Juked Interview for Counterfactual Love Stories & Other Experiments

I had a fantastic conversation with the talented and astute writer, Ashley Farmer, about my short story collection, Counterfactual Love Stories & Other Experiments over at Juked. If you have a moment, it’s an engaging read I think.

Counterfactual Love Stories & Other Experiments is the #2 Amazon Hot Release!

Yo, it’s not very often I can say this, but today I became an Asian poet! At least, that’s what Amazon thinks about Counterfactual Love Stories & Other Experiments, which is included as a new release in Asian Poetry. But even more shocking, CLS&OE is ranked #2! At least for now (7 October 2021 at 11:41 PST). How the fuck did this happen? And why is this book labeled poetry? I mean, there’s some bomb lyricism in this book. There are some dope turns of phrases too. But it would never have occurred to me to label this book as poetry. But you know what, I don’t fucking care. I’m gonna roll with it. Anything that might help me find new readers and draw attention to my books I’m gonna support, so thank you, Amazon, for giving just a tiny bit of attention to this book of mine! I really appreciate it.

Today is Pub Day for Counterfactual Love Stories & Other Experiments

The Day has Come!

I’m a late bloomer when it comes to publishing. Most of my friends already have one or more books out in the world because they’re talented and hardworking, but the day has finally come for me. It’s PUB DAY for Counterfactual Love Stores & Other Experiments at long last! I’ve been dreaming about this day since I started writing fiction seriously in college, since my first workshop in my late 20s, since my MFA and my PhD programs, I’ve been waiting for my own day & it’s finally here. It almost doesn’t feel real, except that my body wouldn’t let me sleep more than six hours, even after I took Ashwaganda and melotonin. Guess I should I have smoked instead.

If you know me, you know that I’ve been working tirelessly on this manuscript for well over a decade. Closer to sixteen years, but who’s counting? So, to see this manuscript finally emerge into this world is really huge deal to me. I hope that you feel that way too.

So Now I'm a LA Writer

LB & I decided to move back to LA back in January of 2021 after she was offered an amazing job opportunity at CHLA, a decision that was difficult for me because of how much I’ve loved (working with) my BFA & MFA students & how much I valued my colleagues at BG, but also easy in other ways since we’ve lived in LA for over ten years, always coming back here over & over again. At some point, & I’m not quite sure where the timeline lands exactly, LA & not Chicago became our home even though we’re both from Chicago & even though we met each other in Chicago with a little help from MySpace. But that’s another story.

During the last pandemic wave in the winter of 2019/2020, I was completely stuck in Ann Arbor, constantly fighting depression, immobility, anxiety, fear, & hopelessness. Much of that was the pandemic, obviously, but much of that was also A2 too. After a while, LB & I ended up eating out at the same 3-4 restaurants, we did the exact same walk around the neighborhood 3-4 times a week, even my classes felt redundant, I found myself saying the same shit over & over again in response to workshopped manuscripts. I felt like I was stuck in a perpetual loop in Michigan & I wanted desperately to come back to LA, not only because this city was always the space before we tried to start a family, the space before the Covid-19 pandemic hit (because of when we left in June 2019), the place where I got my PhD before the job search, but also because this city shaped me. I became a doctor here. I became an agented writer here. I sold my first novel here. I revised my memoir here, which I sold in Michigan. I published a piece of flash nonfiction in the New York Times here. I got my half sleeve here. I got my first lectureship here. I visited my homeland from LA. I met my Japanese family while in LA. I fully developed my style here (half street style, half urban Asian preppy). LB became a supervisor here. We adopted Gogo! here. IOW, LA made me the person I am today & I kinda like that person. I relate to that person. I understand that person.

So coming back here felt like the most normal thing in the world & also the most surreal too since the time dilation I’d experienced back in the Midwest during the collapse of the world distorted my sense of how much time had passed & how slowly it was passing. Now, I’m a LA writer, I’m starting to schedule a remote tour with indie bookstores across the country, I’m working on ways to promote Counterfactual Love Stories, but I don’t fully know yet what that means. It’s something I can only understand after a couple years. Yes, I have three books coming out in the next 12 months, which I’m really grateful for (& have worked so hard for). But I don’t know yet where I’m headed, what the next step in my writing career is, whether I’ll end up writing screenplays, scoring a gig at Buzzfeed, working as an extra for Central Casting (because why the fuck not), doing freelance work as a copy editor, selling new post-rock & electronic music & tour merchandise from my Love, Amnesia, & Dream Tour, or something completely unrelated to writing & art.

TBH, I have no idea, but I have this (probably naive, definitely irrational) hope that everything is going to work out. It might be the beautiful weather that I just can’t take for granted after two winters locked in Michigan. It might be the superabundance of artists, writers, screenwriters, yoga fanatics, juice drinkers, Prius & Tesla drivers, actors, models, & influencers here. It might be the panoply of vegan restaurants, sushi joints, & cafés that serve perfect vanilla oat lattés here, but whatever it is, LA has become the place where I belong, where I thrive, where my partner can thrive, where it feels not only acceptable to not have kids or a typical nuclear family, but sometimes even necessary!

I’m happy we came back to LA. I’m happy to be here and see what my future holds for me now that I’ve centered LB for once & begun the next phase of my writing career as someone whose work is coming to a theater near you very soon.

The Love, Amnesia, & Dream Tour Poster (2021-2023) is Now Available!

Well, one of the things I longed for the most after I realized that I would have 3 books coming out in the span of nine months (which is every bit of a logistical nightmare as you can imagine, but also a beautiful problem to have if we’re being totally honest), was a poster for my book tour for the next two years. I wanted a tour or a “tour” or both in order to connect the three separate books (and genres) together. I also wanted a poster to graphically situate, connect, and unify my three books while also giving something to people like me who crave tangibility, especially tangible art and literary merchandise.

So, while this poster was conceptually created by me, it was completely designed, imagined, and realized by Aaron Draplin, who is an artistic genius. I’m so in love with this poster I’m about to frame it myself and hang it in my office. I might also consider raffling one or two free copies of this poster once Counterfactual Love Stories & Other Experiments is out in the world.

Cover Reveal for Counterfactual Love Stories & Other Experiments

Available Now for Pre-Order

Well, the day has finally come! My debut short story collection, COUNTERFACTUAL LOVE STORIES & OTHER EXPERIMENTS, officially has a cover at long last, which I absolutely love. Many thanks, much praise, and love to the badass skills of Alban Fischer, the illustrator for creating this gorgeous cover. Even more exciting, and hard for me to fathom here, you can now order my book in the Noemi Press catalog. So, please do me a huge favor and order your copy today. I’ll lit love you forever!