Bed

Tao Lin's territory is the rich, neglected space between the bigger things we thought we already knew. Only in his hands everything becomes strange — a little warped, a little sad, and a whole lot more intriguing. With understated lyricism, he reminds us that if we can't fix things, then at least we can try to see them with perfect clarity.andquot;andmdash;Todd Hasak-Lowy, author of The Task of This Translator

A startlingly original voice announces itself immediately in this collection of award-winning stories. Tao Linandrsquo;s absorbing writing style matches a minimalist prose with a lyric sensibility, poignant compassion with a hysterical sense of humor, bitter reality with enchanting fantasy, and youthful outlandishness with a gentle, mature perceptivenessandmdash;all in shaped stories that are a tribute to the form.

In a series of pinpoint portrayals, Linandrsquo;s tales depict young people in a surreal place between irresponsible youth and workaday adulthood, wanting to reject both cultures in order to craft something different. But such rebellion is harder than ever in a culture dominated by outrageousness, and Lin sensitively portrays the struggle in a way that is highly entertaining, impressively smart, and ultimately moving.

It will leave some cheering the war against a dumbed-down culture, others laughing at the tactics, and all concerned feeling like theyandrsquo;ve got a new champion in Tao Lin.

Tao Lin, also author of the novel Eeeee Eee Eeee, lives in New York City.

"Tao Lin's territory is the rich, neglected space between the bigger things we thought we already knew. Only in his hands everything becomes strange — a little warped, a little sad, and a whole lot more intriguing. With understated lyricism, he reminds us that if we can't fix things, then at least we can try to see them with perfect clarity." Todd Hasak-Lowy, author of The Task of This Translator

"Tao Lin writes from moods that less radical writers would let pass — from laziness, from vacancy, from boredom. And it turns out that his report from these places is moving and necessary, not to mention frequently hilarious." Miranda July

A startlingly original voice announces itself immediately in this collection of award-winning stories. Tao Lin's absorbing writing style matches a minimalist prose with a lyric sensibility, poignant compassion with a hysterical sense of humor, bitter reality with enchanting fantasy, and youthful outlandishness with a gentle, mature perceptiveness-all in shaped stories that are a tribute to the form.

In a series of pinpoint portrayals, Lin's tales depict young people in a surreal place between irresponsible youth and workaday adulthood, wanting to reject both cultures in order to craft something different. But such rebellion is harder than ever in a culture dominated by outrageousness, and Lin sensitively portrays the struggle in a way that is highly entertaining, impressively smart, and ultimately moving.

It will leave some cheering the war against a dumbed-down culture, others laughing at the tactics, and all concerned feeling like they've got a new champion in Tao Lin.

College students, recent graduates, and their parents work at Denny’s, volunteer at a public library in suburban Florida, attend satanic ska/punk concerts, eat Chinese food with the homeless of New York City, and go to the same Japanese restaurant in Manhattan three times in two sleepless days, all while yearning constantly for love, a better kind of love, or something better than love, things which—much like the Loch Ness Monster—they know probably do not exist, but are rumored to exist and therefore “good enough.”

Tao Lin was last year's winner of NYU's Undergraduate Creative Writing Prize. He is the poetry editor for 3 a.m. magazine, and proprietor of the book blog ReaderofDepressingBooks.com. His stories and poems have appeared in Mississippi Review, Cincinnati Review, Other Voices, Punk Planet, and many other magazines. Tao was born in 1983 and lives in New York City.