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.

1st Piece Accepted in 2014

Today I got the best kind of email.  Simon Waxman, the managing editor at the Boston Review, contacted me to publish my lyrical essay,"The Day I Lost Rock and Roll," at the BR.  So, of course, my day became fucking awesome.  This essay is part of my high-concept memoir, Dream Pop Origami.  Be on the lookout for my essay in the near future!

Sending Out Query Letters for Dream Pop Origami

I've been working on my awesome (totally sui generis), innovative memoir, Dream Pop Origami, off and on for the past year.  Some of the essays I wrote back in 2002 when I was living in Portland but most of this memoir was written in the past year.  The basic concept, though, has been marinating for at least a decade inside my noodle.  Anyway, I can't give any specific details about my memoir--top secret shit--but I can admit that I'm finally sending out a few query letters to literary agents now that Dream Pop Origami is ready for public consumption.  I've finally reached that stage for this manuscript.  Stay tuned for the deetz, man.

Melissa Flashman Requests Full Manuscript of Dream Pop Origami

Less than 24 hours after I sent her a query letter for my conceptual memoir, Dream Pop Origami, Melissa Flashman wrote back requesting the full manuscript.  In many ways, this is really awesome considering that she was one of the first agents I queried, in part because she's very forward thinking and is always looking for something that's bold, fresh and also deals with what it means to be human--all things I also care about deeply in my own writing.  Anyway, I won't get my hopes up at this point but I'm happy to see her interest in my manuscript.  She's exactly the agent, or the type of agent, I'd want interested in my memoir.

Memoir about Being a Secret Hapa + Nerd Masculinity Republished in Discover Nikkei

My memoir/essay, "American Otaku" about the life of a secret Asian American + nerd masculinity that was originally published in the GMP was recently republished at Discover Nikkei, a site that explores transnational hapa identity + interconnection between cultures, celebrates community + also provides a forum for hapa + nikkeijin history to be retold + therefore, reremembered.  If you have a second + you missed it the first time around, you can check out my piece here.

Shameless Self-Googling is Good for You

I know, I know, it's vain and egocentric to google yourself. except when you discover that one of your fave online travel journals published a memoir of yours about africa. AND they didn't tell you either. so tonight, i was waiting for erika to get home, i'd just finished applying for a part-time tutoring gig online, and after i did some self-googling--which, i admit, sounds totally kinky--i realized that POLOGY magazine published my piece "Stripped Down" about the bike trips i used to take from my village to the malian border. anyway, there are tons of run-on sentences, but i think it's still a good memoir. check it out peeps, it's evocative enough, even if it is travel writing.

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I'm stoked about my reading at notre dame in february. for more info, check this out. i can't wait to hit the mic