In the finely wrought short story tradition of David Bezmozgis and Aimee Bender, Ryan Boudinot emerges as a stunning new literary voice-funny, gruesome, and absolutely compelling

Welcome to the world of Ryan Boudinot, where a little boy who innocently dresses up as Hitler for Halloween suffers the consequences. ("The Littlest Hitler"); a world where a typical office romance is destroyed by the female half's habit of coming to work covered in live bees ("Bee Beard"); where jacked-up salesmen go on murderous, Burgess-like rampages ("The Sales Team"); and the children of the future are required to kill off their parents--preferably with an ice pick--in order to be accepted to the college of their choice ("Civilization"). You may never want to leave.

In each of these fearless, hilarious, and tightly crafted stories, Boudinot's voice rings with a clarity rarely seen in a debut collection. He speaks to a generation that has tried to seem disaffected but can't help wishing for a better world. His characters shake their heads over the same messes they're busily creating, or lash out angrily at a sex-and-violence-saturated culture. But they can never entirely lose their sense of fun, however perverse it may be.

Author Bio: Ryan Boudinot's work has appeared in McSweeney's, BlackBook, Nerve, and The Best American Non-Required Reading 2003 and 2005. He lives in Seattle.

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