{"title":"Joe Baumann","description":"\u003cp\u003eDelve into the poignant and observant stories of Joe Baumann, exploring themes of identity, relationships, and modern life with sharp wit and heartfelt honesty. Perfect for readers who enjoy nuanced character studies.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"where-can-i-take-you-when-there-s-nowhere-to-go-book-joe-baumann-9781960145024","title":"Where Can I Take You When There's Nowhere To Go","description":"In Joe Baumann’s newest collection Where Can I Take You When There’s Nowhere To Go, queer men explore their sense of who they are and what they want, often in worlds that are tilted askew from what we might expect. Thirteen surreal short stories utilize the strange and the bizarre as a backdrop for explorations of loneliness, queer coming-of-age, self-discovery, and loss. In “We Adore These Bodies Until They Are Gone,” people evaporate when suffering isolation and directionless; in “Happy Birthdays,” characters transform into different ages when they consume particular kinds of cake; and in the titular story, a pair of lonely teenagers come together at a party after one of them gifts the other with a small cloud he has spun out of his own hands.   Baumann’s tender vignettes of love, anger, grief, and desire are a stunning ode to the places and people that can give us solace within an absurd and chaotic world.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49743720644881,"sku":"NGR9781960145024","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50132763509009,"sku":"CIN1960145029VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50403995025681,"sku":"CIN1960145029G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51062189818129,"sku":"NIN9781960145024","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52686499610897,"sku":"NLS9781960145024","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1960145029.jpg?v=1751188073"},{"product_id":"sing-with-me-at-the-edge-of-paradise-book-joe-baumann-9781682831601","title":"Sing with Me at the Edge of Paradise","description":"The sixteen stories in this collection surround queer men of various ages - teenagers, young adults, men in middle age - trying to temper their expectations of the world with their lived experience. Using the lens of the bizarre and fantastic, these stories explore discontent, discomfort, and discovery.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50399691112721,"sku":"CIN1682831604VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51045379408145,"sku":"NIN9781682831601","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1682831604.jpg?v=1757414571"},{"product_id":"lake-drive-book-joe-baumann-9781608642724","title":"Lake Drive","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50936066572561,"sku":"CIN1608642720G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51087078883601,"sku":"NIN9781608642724","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52432160686353,"sku":"NLS9781608642724","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1608642720.jpg?v=1750927217"},{"product_id":"i-know-you-re-out-there-somewhere-book-joe-baumann-9781738767724","title":"I Know You're Out There Somewhere","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51050465231121,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51050467426577,"sku":"NIN9781738767724","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1738767728.jpg?v=1750897285"},{"product_id":"thing-is-only-known-when-it-is-gone-book-joe-baumann-9780299348946","title":"A Thing Is Only Known When It Is Gone","description":"Flowers bloom from the body of a man after his lover’s touch. Grieving parents find a way to communicate with their lost children. A teacher with water in his veins is held accountable when the extracurricular club he advises goes rogue. In these and other fantastical stories, Joe Baumann explores relationships, mostly queer, through the lens of the bizarre.    The stories in A Thing Is Only Known When It Is Gone are told in lyrical, often startling prose. Baumann’s experimentation with the surreal avoids gimmick and easy metaphor, keeping the complexity of the characters at the center. The strange worlds of these protagonists distort and reflect our own back to us, like the funhouse mirrors in “Morphology” that begin to change the fabric of reality.   Ultimately, we may not want to live in a world in which our broken hearts are on display in external birdcages attached to our bodies. But Baumann’s sophisticated, nuanced storytelling makes us wonder, however briefly, whether such a world might be preferable to ours. The emotional poignancy at the heart of each of these stories reaches across the strangeness of all of our possible worlds, tying us together in the universal search for connection.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":52099668934929,"sku":"NGR9780299348946","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52717628653841,"sku":"NIN9780299348946","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780299348946.jpg?v=1763480898"},{"product_id":"hot-lips-book-joe-baumann-9781958373026","title":"Hot Lips","description":"\u003cp\u003eJoe Baumann's\u0026gt;\u003cem\u003eHot Lips\u0026gt;\u003c\/em\u003ecenters around a group of fraternity members at a small school in upper Missouri, linked by unusual capabilities, by nickname identities, and by the close-knit Phi Kappa Gamma (PKG). One member can speak to food; another can breathe fire; yet another is followed perpetually by bees. Through self-discovery, each of their quirks only grows more vibrant and illuminating than before.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52758109880593,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52758110208273,"sku":"NIN9781958373026","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781958373026.jpg?v=1763580743"},{"product_id":"plagues-book-joe-baumann-9798986144771","title":"The Plagues","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53634483880209,"sku":"NLS9798986144771","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9798986144771.jpg?v=1780993353"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-joe-baumann.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}