If You Lived Here You'd Already be Home

“These stories were my kind of stories--a little weird and magical and bittersweet.” --Roxane Gay, New York Times bestselling author of Bad Feminist and Hunger

A middle-aged masochist in love with a comatose man. A gay birthday clown lamenting the loss of his beloved dog. An amateur veterinarian keeping watch over his suicidal daughter. And a bikini model with a barnacle stuck to her butt cheek. These are just a few of the characters who populate the quirky, offbeat world of If You Lived Here You’d Already Be Home a world that feels at once alien and strangely familiar.

In these twenty-one brief, funny stories, John Jodzio documents his characters disappointment, frustration, and longing for a home that seems forever out of reach. By turns bleak and hopeful, cruel and tender, this is an exciting literary debut by a writer to watch, a writer with a unique and compelling voice.

“John Jodzio is the best kind of modern fiction writer: a thematic traditionalist who feels totally new.” —Chuck Klosterman, New York Times bestselling authorJohn Jodzio is a winner of the Loft-McKnight Fellowship and the author of the short story collections Get In If You Want To Live (Paper Darts Press) and If You Lived Here You'd Already Be Home (Replacement Press). His work has been featured in a variety of places including This American Life, McSweeney's, and One Story. He lives in Minneapolis.