Life Might Suck, So Let's Chat for a While
Nostalgia usually means the present isn't going so well.
These past few years, I've often had this feeling: waking up to one bad thing after another, closing my eyes and seeing no future. Somewhere along the way, the version of me that used to goof off all day turned into a worn-out adult.
So I can only look back, wishing time would rewind just a little.
If I could stay in the past a bit longer, would I not end up where I am now? Would I not have this soul-crushing job? Would I not have lost that person...
Could I be just a little less exhausted?
And so this collection was born.
In these short stories, you'll find popsicles and soda; bicycles and cola. You'll also meet a carefree high schooler who encounters someone claiming to be from the future; a stubborn father-son relationship upended when the son inherits his grandfather's memories; an old garbage collector who decides to fight in underground matches; and a Tang Monk who's actually a healer...
Big and small flights of imagination. Set in the eras we grew up in, in the stories we heard secondhand, in the Journey to the West we followed episode by episode as kids, in the memories we all share.
They can't change anything, but they can give you a brief rest.
We're all inevitably growing up, getting worn down, becoming ordinary.
Writing these stories is my way of bringing everyone back to sit a spell in the era of popsicles, soda, and bicycles.
Fantasy, wild ideas, wisecracks, good times—they're all the chats we shared back in those days.
Before the sun sets, before Mom starts yelling at us to come home for dinner.
Let's finish chatting, then head home.