Best known as a novelist, Korean American writer Alexander Chee’s debut collection of essays showcases another dazzling, intimate and deeply moving side to the author. Ranging from essays that explicitly tackle the craft of creating a novel to personal and wry writings on life as a gay man of Asian origin, the AIDS crisis, the odd jobs he did to sustain himself, and everything in between, this book thrums with the voice of a masterful writer who is unafraid to excavate and pierce the depths of what constitutes the self.