September 28, 2023:

Donate

Everything Is Awful and You’re a Terrible Person

Everything Is Awful and You're a Terrible Person

Everything Is Awful and You’re a Terrible Person

A YouTube star becomes famous after he documents his breakup online. An anxious, lactose-intolerant office worker obsesses over a stranger who says “Nice shorts, bro” to him in passing. A couple wants to open up their relationship to a ghost. A monster just wants to find love in his human skin.

In these unconventional, interconnected stories–the first work of fiction by acclaimed poet Daniel Zomparelli, editor-in-chief of Poetry Is Dead magazine–gay men look for love in any way possible. From social media, to finding someone within a dream, the ways in which these characters search for joy becomes both limitless and overwhelming. With wry abandon and a beguiling heart, Everything Is Awful is a deadpan, tragicomic exploration of love, desire, and dysfunction in the twenty-first century.

About the author

Daniel Zomparelli

Daniel Zomparelli

Daniel Zomparelli is the founder of Poetry Is Dead magazine. He founded the magazine while working at Adbusters in 2009 along with art-director Easton West. The magazine has been featured around the world with praise from Stack, and Monocle magazine. He is a former co-podcaster at Can’t Lit along with Dina Del Bucchia, where they interview Canadian authors about everything from books to current events. His first book of poems Davie Street Translations was published by Talonbooks in 2012. His poems and writing have been anthologized and published around the world. His collaborative book with Dina Del Bucchia, Rom Com, was published by Talonbooks in 2015, which received praise and was profiled in FLARE magazine, Global TV, the Vancouver Sun, and CBC the Early Edition. His collection of short stories Everything Is Awful and You’re a Terrible Person was nominated for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize and won the ReLit Short Fiction Award. It has been translated into German, French and Spanish. His work is in Xtra, Medium’s Archipelago, Megaphone, Vice, Joyland, among others, and most recently The CutHis podcast I’m Afraid That which features guests such as Jordan Peele, Jenny Slate and Nicole Byer, was listed as one of the best podcasts of 2018 by Esquire and featured as a podcast to listen to on A/V Club and BBC America. He currently lives in Los Angeles.

Browse Other Books

Donate today

Support Canadian literature

Help preserve and promote Canadian writers by contributing to Real Vancouver. Your donation helps us run our events and provide writers with resources, mentorship, and opportunities to grow their craft.