- Description
- Author Bio
- Reviews
Microdoses of the straight dope, stories so true they had to be wrapped in fiction for our own protection, from the best-selling author of But What if We’re Wrong?
A man flying first class discovers a puma in the lavatory. A new coach of a small-town Oklahoma high school football team installs an offense comprised of only one, very special, play. A man explains to the police why he told the employee of his local bodega that his colleague looked like the lead singer of Depeche Mode, a statement that may or may not have led in some way to a violent crime. A college professor discusses with his friend his difficulties with the new generation of students. An obscure power pop band wrestles with its new-found fame when its song “Blizzard of Summer” becomes an anthem for white supremacists. A couple considers getting a medical procedure that will transfer the pain of childbirth from the woman to her husband. A woman interviews a hit man about killing her husband but is shocked by the method he proposes. A man is recruited to join a secret government research team investigating why coin flips are no longer exactly 50/50. A man sees a whale struck by lightning, and knows that everything about his life has to change. A lawyer grapples with the unintended side effects of a veterinarian’s rabies vaccination.
Fair warning: Raised in Captivity does not slot into a smooth preexisting groove. If Saul Steinberg and Italo Calvino had adopted a child from a Romanian orphanage and raised him on Gary Larsen and Thomas Bernhard, he would still be nothing like Chuck Klosterman. They might be good company, though. Funny, wise and weird in equal measure, Raised in Captivity bids fair to be one of the most original and exciting story collections in recent memory, a fever graph of our deepest unvoiced hopes, fears and preoccupations. Ceaselessly inventive, hostile to corniness in all its forms, and mean only to the things that really deserve it, it marks a cosmic leap forward for one of our most consistently interesting writers.
BELOVED ESSAYIST TURNS TO SHORT FICTION: Klosterman’s musings on pop culture and politics have attracted a huge following of Klostermaniacs. Now, he’s taking his signature voice to a new genre
A MAJOR LITERARY EVENT: A new book from Klosterman is always celebrated by his legions of fans, and this razor-sharp, hilarious book is an utter joy to read.
TIMELY AND TIMELESS MICROFICTION: The collection’s super-short, tantalizing stories are perfect for both new readers of literary fiction and readers who want to see something new.
Chuck Klosterman is the bestselling author of eight nonfiction books (including Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs; I Wear the Black Hat; But What If We’re Wrong?; and Killing Yourself to Live) and two novels (Downtown Owl and The Visible Man). He has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, GQ, Esquire, Spin, The Guardian, The Believer, Billboard, The A.V. Club, and ESPN. Klosterman served as the Ethicist for The New York Times Magazine for three years, appeared as himself in the LCD Soundsystem documentary Shut Up and Play the Hits, and was an original founder of the website Grantland with Bill Simmons.
Author Residence: Portland, OR
Marketing: Online advertising campaign
Comprehensive outreach to Klosterman fan community
Social media campaign
Literary influencer outreach
Academic marketing and library promotions
Publicity: Pre-publication buzz campaign
National author tour
Major review and feature coverage
Radio and podcast campaign
Fiction media and book page print features
Trade magazine and publishing features
Author Website: chuckklostermanauthor.com/
Author Social Media: Twitter @CKlosterman, 181k followers, Facebook 46.8k followers
Praise for Chuck Klosterman
“Klosterman has a knack for holding up a magical high-def mirror to American pop culture.” —The Los Angeles Times
“[Klosterman’s] good humor, compassion, and raw associative powers put him in the same league as Nick Hornby and Douglas Coupland.” -The Washington Post