Author Joni B. Cole worries that Vlad the Impaler may be a distant cousin. She feuds with a dead medium. She thinks (or overthinks) about insulting birthday cards, power trips, and the real reason writers hate Amazon. And she wishes, really wishes, all those well-meaning people would stop talking about Guatemala. At once irreverent and thought provoking, Cole's collection is a joy ride through eclectic essays that arrives smack on that sweet spot between soul searching and social commentary, between humor and heft.
Joni B. Cole teaches creative writing and is a frequent speaker at academic programs, conferences, and social-service organizations across the country. She is the author of seven books, including Good Naked: How to Write More, Write Better, and Be Happier, Revised and Expanded Edition and Toxic Feedback: Helping Writers Survive and Thrive, Revised and Expanded Edition (both from UNM Press), and she is a contributor to The Writer and the host of the podcast Author, Can I Ask You?
We'll Never Have Guatemala The Other Woman Our Old House Dear Mr. Impaler Winning Women Let It Lie Party Like It's 2044 But Enough about Me Spirit Animal Tricks Like a Punch to the Kidneys Recalculating . . . Recalculating . . . Recalculating The Seven-Year Bitch Why Cotton Mather Was a Hero: A Five-Paragraph Essay FLAWSOME! Hot as Hell The Grandpa Robe Dear Ex (Ex?) Friend Clearing the Air No Podium for Old Men: A Transcript of the Introductory Remarks at the "Diversity Enhancement Award" Ceremony at Walter S. Walters College Conversation Interruptus Lambies in Jammies! Testing Negative My Four-Mile Run: The Official, Ordinary Tour Queen Be 120 Seconds: A Too-Short Movie Will Work For . . . One Day at a Time Save the Date The Weird Place The Real Reasons Writers Hate Amazon The Age of Authenticity Social Grooming Appreciations About the Author
Here is a voice giving us a welcome break: vibrant, provocative, funny, and flavorful--Cole's self-ironic, audacious wit both cheers and consoles. Showing a delicate compassion for her subjects and 'toastees' while never letting herself off the hook, Cole's deep and generous thinking makes room for fresh air: worth breathing deeply."- Joan Frank, author of Late Work: A Literary Autobiography of Love, Loss, and What I Was Reading "Fabulously readable and thoroughly engaging, it is Cole's voice that makes her stories sing. Whether she's leading us into laughter or holding our hand through dazzling moments of emotional recognition, Cole takes writing seriously while taking herself lightly, and thereby illuminating the world with these brief, memorable essays."- Gina Barreca, author of They Used to Call Me Snow White, But I Drifted: Women's Strategic Use of Humor "Full of wit, honesty, and hilarious tangents, Joni's writing makes me feel like I'm sitting in a cozy corner of a coffee shop listening to my funniest friend spill her guts. Party Like It's 2044 had me laughing and gasping--'I can't believe you just said that!'--and had everyone else in the coffee shop wondering, Why is that girl in the corner laughing and talking to herself?"-Kristen Mulroone, coauthor of Gilmore Girls: The Official Cookbook "Cole writes what so many of us are secretly thinking, from the insecurity to the snark. With keen observation and irresistible wit, she is the Seinfeld of single authors of a certain age."-Leslie Lehr, author of A Boob's Life: How America's Obsession Shaped Me . . . and You
