420 Characters (ePub)

“A dreamy collection of mini stories and illustrations.” —New York magazine
 
“Marvels of economy.” —The New York Times Magazine
 
“Beach injects these tidy depictions with . . . boundless, mischievous imagination. . . . Unforced, thoughtful, occasionally profound . . . Sly, surprising, playful, puzzling—and great fun.” —Publishers Weekly
 
“Eclectic, vivid moments in time, delivered in the exacting limits of social media . . . Bold, impulsive flash fiction. . . . These moments are . . . theatrical, instantly recognizable and slide off the tongue with the cacophony of a Tom Waits riff. An adroit experiment that marries linguistic restraint to literary cool.” —Kirkus Reviews
 
“Sharp and driven by a droll wit . . . Endearing and Estranging . . . A sharp and wonderfully funny debut . . . these stories add up to something wonderful.” —Library Journal
 
“Holy shit! Those are great! . . . May they last a thousand years and be chiseled in stone.” —Jonathan Lethem
 
“Lou Beach uses words with no sympathy for the reader. He beats us senseless with his brilliance.” —Terry Gilliam
 
“[Beach] understands narrative in a deep way.” —J. Robert Lennon
 
“Lou Beach is full of wit, mirth and intelligence.” —Gary Panter, Emmy Award–winning author of Jimbo in Purgatory
 
“In only a few sentences, he remarkably manages to evoke character, milieu and mood.” —Joe Frank, Peabody Award–winning radio personality
 
“Bizarre and awesome.” —Bookslut
 
Praise for Lou Beach’s artwork
 
“The art of Lou Beach is