"Askew humor. Descriptive twists. The ability to touch a soul in its depth. Emily Dickinson advised writers to 'tell it slant,' but Ted McLoof tells it in all sort of directions: slant, upside down, twirling around. You never quite know where his stories are going. That's a good thing. Life as surprise. As paradox. As puzzle. I'm still thinking about these stories."
— Grant Faulkner, author of The Art of Brevity and co-founder of Memoir Nation
"McLoof’s latest collection offers refreshing turns on the complexity of coming of age. These stories refrain from romanticizing the highs and lows of an anxious time of life and captivate us with honest, winning characterizations—of the young people we all once were and maybe even the adults we feared becoming. Witty, nostalgic, and brightly charged."
— Manuel Muñoz, author of The Consequences
"These linked stories trace a boy’s coming of age in a small New Jersey town after the rupture of his parents’ marriage, a specter that haunts the rest of the book. Movies, an obsession the protagonist inherited from both his parents, become his compass. He maps his parents’ relationship with Tom Cruise roles. As he says of a friendship, “Our entire language was movie quotes. Ted McLoof is a quietly devastating writer. These stories ache with adolescent longing. They’re funny, companionable, and best of all, genuine. No bs here."
— Michelle Ross, author of They Kept Running
"The casual brilliance of Ted McLoof's fiction has always astonished me. Imagine an unassumingly bookish-looking guy walking into a rowdy bar, taking off his glasses, and kicking everyone's ass at pool without breaking a sweat: This is how McLoof writes. In his stories, young people bumble their way through high school, dead-end jobs, and ramshackle nights smoking pot in cars, but before you know it, what initially felt intimate has grown large enough to contain stunning truths about the world. Honest, hilarious, and heartbreaking, McLoof's fiction may kick your ass at pool, but it'll buy you a drink afterward, and it'll be your friend forever."
— Ben Rybeck, bookseller and author of Housatonic