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From the author of the acclaimed novel Living Dead Girl, a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, come twelve haunting stories about people caught somewhere between love and madness. Simplify mines the often surreal terrain of people on the margins of life: from the man with a photo of Elvis bleeding on his wall in “Comeback Special,” to the profoundly troubled boy genius of the title story “Simplify,” to the family that must traverse “The Distance Between Us” to finally get to the truth about their son the murderer, each story hums with sharp drama, mystery, wonder, and startling humour. Simplify, the first collection of short fiction by Tod Goldberg, portrays a world where redemption, hope, and violence are never too far apart. It is the inaugural volume in the Other Voices Book Series.
Tod Goldberg is the author of the novels Living Dead Girl, a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Fake Liar Cheat & The Fix as well as the short story collection Simplify, a finalist for SCBA Prize in Fiction and winner of the Other Voices Short Story Collection Prize. His short fiction and essays have appeared in numerous journals and magazines, including The Sun, Post Road, & The Santa Monica Review, and several anthologies, including Las Vegas Noir, When I Was A Loser and Don’t You Forget About Me: Contemporary Authors on the Films of John Hughes, twice earning Special Mention for the Pushcart Prize. A four-time winner of the Nevada Press Association award in journalism and arts criticism, Tod’s work appears frequently in the Los Angeles Times, Las Vegas CityLife, and the Chicago Tribune. His next novel, The End Game, will be released in May of 2009 followed by his next collection of stories, Other Resort Cities, in October of 2009. Tod Goldberg is the Administrative Director of the MFA Program in Creative Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts.
