This episodic novel chronicles the trials and tribulations of Peter Cherches, an obscure Brooklyn writer who suffers the slings and arrows of outrageous tormentors, most notably his next-door neighbor. Cherches's world is overrun with doppelgängers, doppelgängers' doppelgängers, malevolent technology, masks, doubts, and unreliable mirrors. Think of this as a kinder and gentler Book of Job, with New York attitude and borscht belt humor, as well as echoes of Kafka, Borges, and Serli...

Things known and unknown. Story as thing. The soul of things. The essence of narrative. Bare bones. Blind alleys. Unanswered questions. And poems, a few pantoums and haiku too. Forty things by Peter Cherches.

In these mini memoirs, Peter Cherches revisits musical experiences, pleasures, and obsessions that have punctuated his life. A singer and lyricist as well as "one of the innovators of the short short story" (Publishers Weekly), Cherches writes here from the perspective of a voracious listener for whom music is a constant companion. Whether reminiscing about the joys of musical discovery or paying tribute to musicians who have inspired him, Cherches shares his passions with verve a...

In the spring of 2020, shortly after he had started wearing a face mask outside his home, Peter Cherches began writing about masks, literally the face of COVID-19. These 16 stories, written between April and December of that year, capture the surreal experience of living through a global pandemic and all its attendant challenges—personal, political, and social. This small volume is both a mask-muffled cry and a full-throated belly laugh. Reactions are to be expected, and are no cause for c...

Whistler's Mother's Son collects over 100 prose pieces of varying length and styles—from minimalism to satire to noir to children's tale to abstraction to surrealism. Featuring parodies, standardized tests, nursery-rhyme anxieties, fables, riddles, collaborations, conundrums, rescued clichés, abominations-in-training, dark Americana, existential misdemeanors, misbegotten mysteries, identity crises, optimistic nihilism, formal experimentation, and polyrhythmic pros...

Peter Cherches walks the thin line between memoir and fiction in Autobiography Without Words. We follow the main character, variously known as Pete, Mr. Cherches and Peter Cherches, through the big and small adventures of life, from childhood crimes and punishments to trips to India and Mars. A departure from the cool minimalism of Cherches’ previous collection, Lift Your Right Arm, this book will break your heart, mess with your head and have you rolling...

The five sequences of Lift Your Right Arm are minimalist novels of sorts—thought-provoking, mostly deadpan prose that is often darkly humorous. From the stark relationship studies of "Bagatelles" and "Dirty Windows" to the wry observations of "Mr. Deadman" and "A Certain Clarence," the stars of these pieces are Peter Cherches’ unique takes on Everyman and Everywoman—dead or alive—navigating a world in which very little is what it seems.

The popular bathroom reader series is back with this collection that's flush with laughs.It's new, it's improved, it's the funniest ever! Back by popular demand, this newly revised edition includes plenty of all-time favorites, along with more than twenty-five pages of new content. That's page after page after page of laugh-out-loud dumb jokes, dumb jocks, toasts, pranks, kings, kittens, caboodles, and, of course, poorly translated kung fu movie subtitles such as "...

The most common response I get to that title is: "You think that's funny?" The answer I'd really like to give you is the Joe Pesci answer: "Funny how? I mean, funny like I'm a clown, I amuse you?" But the answer I will give you (and Joe) is: Yes, I do, or I wouldn't have made it the title of this collection of short humorous essays, ludicrous lists, satirical stories and even (shudder) a couple parodic poems. Yes, the answer is Yes. There is only one other word I'd like to say about this c...

Welcome to GoFishFriday: The Art Book - a journey through CatchphraseDan's #GoFishFriday weekly illustrated playing card project.Now, as you know, there are 52 weeks in a year, 12 hairs in a sandwich and 52 cards in a merry old deck - how convenient is that? Well, it was very convenient for me, so I packed up my things and began my quest, stopping every Friday to go fish and add a card to the deck.GoFishFriday - The Art Book contains tales of how the cards were created, suc...

From the editor of the celebrated anthology Goodbye to All That: Writers on Loving and Leaving New York, comes a new collection of original essays on what keeps writers tethered to New York City.**The “charming” (The New York Times) first anthology Goodbye to All That—inspired by Joan Didion’s classic essay about loving and leaving Manhattan—chronicled the difficulties and disappointments inherent in loving New York, while Never Can ...

Growing up, I remember my Aunt Mona drinking coffee. It wasn't anything spectacular about her drinking coffee. What was magical to me as a child was that her coffee matched her skin tone perfectly. Whenever I saw her drinking coffee I would think, Aunt Mona is drinking herself. The Color of My Aunt's Coffee. Sugar vs. Cream is a collection of poetry that matches my skin tone perfectly. I invite you to find your nearest cafe or melt into your favorite chair and enjoy a cup of me. You will e...