Bliss Montage

Description

“Weird and wonderful, surreal and subversive, these stories prove that Ma is well on her way to a landmark career.” —Adrienne Westenfeld, EsquireA new creation by the author of Severance, Bliss Montage crashes through our carefully built mirages.What happens when fantasy tears the screen of the everyday to wake us up? Could that waking be our end?
In Bliss Montage, Ling Ma brings us eight wildly different tales of people making their way through the madness and reality of our collective delusions: love and loneliness, connection and possession, friendship, motherhood, the idea of home. A woman lives in a house with all her ex-boyfriends. A toxic friendship grows up around a drug that makes you invisible. An ancient ritual might heal you of anything—if you bury yourself alive.
These and other scenarios investigate the ways that the outlandish and the ordinary are shockingly, deceptively, heartbreakingly alike.

Ling Ma is a writer hailing from Fujian, Utah, and Kansas. She is the author of the novel Severance, which received the Kirkus Prize, a Whiting Award, the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award, and the New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award. She lives in Chicago with her family.

Los Angeles
Oranges
G
Yeti Lovemaking
Returning
Office Hours
Peking Duck
Tomorrow

Named a Must Read by The New York Times, Time, Vulture, The Los Angeles Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Esquire, Nylon, Bustle, Buzzfeed, Gothamist, Associated Press, Fortune, Good Housekeeping, Literary Hub, The Millions, Publishers Weekly, Book Riot, Pop Sugar, Polygon, and Tor.com“Captivating . . . Ma harnesses the pulsating desire and power dynamics present in all relationships, from intimate friendships and haunting romantic entanglements to motherhood and the invisible yet omnipresent ties of ancestors.”
—Cady Lang and Angela Haupt, Time“Swift, smart short stories . . . As always, Ling Ma’s big, weird ideas set the stage for keen emotional insights.”
—Patrick Rapa, The Philadelphia Inquirer“[Bliss Montage] travels through a series of magically realistic, gently dystopian environments . . . A composite portrait of alienation in fading worlds.”
—Erin Schwartz, Vulture“Short stories that examine collective delusion. Ruminating on love, friendship, optimism, and desperation, the stories in Bliss Montage expose the unsightly truths of their characters’ lives.”
—K.W. Colyard, Bustle“Stories that are as outlandish as they are delectable.”
—Sophia June, Nylon“Ma blends magical realism and intimate humanism in . . . entertaining stories that smash our sense of reality . . . Bliss Montage reveals the absurdity behind everyday heartbreak.”
—The Chicago Review of Books“[Ma] has a knack for out-there premises . . . and is just as talented at connecting them to realistic identity crises.”
—Mark Athitakis, The Los Angeles Times“Haunting . . . A surreal collection.”
—Emerson Malone, Buzzfeed“A lyrical, potent [book] that blends fantasy and reality to dazzling effect . . . Ma seamlessly blends the real and the unreal with astonishing confidence and care . . . Another triumph for Ma.”
—Matthew Jackson, BookPage (starred review)“A collection of short stories that subvert our deepest illusions about one’s self . . . Unpredictable and sharp, Ma’s writing is unlike any other.”
—Sabienne Bowman, Pop Sugar“Dreamy stories, each with a foot in the fantastic and the other foot firmly in the appalling everyday.”
—Emily Temple, Literary Hub“[A] rich and capacious collection, a montage which begs to be viewed over and over again.”
—William Shaw, Strange Horizons “This delightfully strange dip back into Ma’s brain is as wonderful as you expect. It touches on what amounts to the greatest hits of human existence: friendship, love, the meaning of home and why we need each other. Read it. Just read it.”
—Lizz Schumer, Good Housekeeping“Brilliant.”
—Adam Morgan, Polygon“Strange, wonderful, and uniquely poignant. Ma’s stark and pointed prose shines here, and each story deserves multiple readings, sure to supply newly discovered emotions each time.”
—Christina Orlando, Tor.com“[Bliss Montage] uses elements of the fantastic but grounds them in a reality that is more recognizably our own . . . The ideas of home and belonging recur throughout the collection . . . Ma also writes about motherhood and academic life and abusive relationships. These are rich themes, and [she] explores them with the logic of dreams . . . Haunting and artful.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)“Surreal and jarring in the most sensational way . . . A fantastical collection that grows more and more captivating with each page.”
—Allison Cho, Booklist“[A] fantastical and often brilliant collection . . . Enchanting, full of intelligence, dry humor, and an appealing self-awareness.”
—Publishers Weekly“Deliciously bizarre . . . [Bliss Montage] will feel familiar to anyone who has wanted to scream at the mundanity of everyday life.”
—Susie Dumond, Book Riot“Ling Ma is a master at subverting expectations. Bliss Montage presents a strange and compelling intersection between stark realism and absurd fantasy. It all adds up to a uniquely satisfying reading experience.”
—Nick Drnaso, author of Sabrina“In this riveting collection of stories, by which one is alternately startled, horrified, and delighted, Ling Ma stands out once again as one of the most original writers of her generation.”
—Sianne Ngai, author of Ugly Feelings

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