Books

Ellis is fourteen. His parents have split up - Mom's gone New Age in Tucson with some asshole abstract artist; and Dad - Fucker Frank, is sporting trendy glasses and retailing Mexican knick-knacks to Washington wannabes.

Ellis is about to start at a tony boarding school back East. It's your standard dysfunctional family thing ... except that Ellis has been hitting the bong since he was eleven, has a goat-man for a guru, and a weed-wisdom beyond his years.

Goats is an extra-mellow coming-of-age tale - quirky, touching and very funny. It's about growing up and getting your shit together.

A New York Times Notable Book of the Year

“Engaging and usual...Goats is a hard-edged, clear-eyed, coming-of-age novel shot through with unexpected flashes of tenderness.” -- Tom Perrotta, New York Times

Published by Hyperion and Bloomsbury UK

Worm farms, pearl-button making, chicken processing, pornography, and beauty pageantry. These cottage industries hold the potential to make fortunes, though it's more likely that they'll lead to bankruptcy and shattered dreams. Mark Poirier introduces the misfits and visionaries who embody the aspirations - and frequently the lunacy - of the American entrepreneur. Following his highly acclaimed debut collection, Naked Pueblo, and first novel, Goats, Poirier returns to life on the edge in tales that race across the American landscape, finding individualists and their outrageous professions in every region of the United States, from Washington, D.C., to Southern California, New England to Louisiana.

A New York Times Notable Book of the Year

"Poirier deserves to be recognized for what he is - a very talented writer spinning wholly original, humorous tales." -- San Francisco Chronicle

"The bizarre and macabre come together in five brilliant stories." -- Genre

"These stories are full of lovely moments." -- Portland Oregonian

Published by Hyperion and Bloomsbury UK

It's a summer hotter than hell in Tucson, Arizona, and weird things are afoot in the crumbling desert community of Rancho Sin Vacas (Ranch Without Cattle). Sixteen-year-old Kendra obsessively hones her body into a perfectly muscled machine, even as she struggles to master a mounting violent streak. Her brother Thomas slips into a misanthropic daze while cultivating a bizarre little obsession of his own under the front porch. Another local, Merv, stuck in a rut and going nowhere fast at thirty, reaches his wit's end over his insomniac mother, whose night-time antics begin to wreak havoc on his life. When a strung-out teenager disappears from the neighborhood, and rumors of murder surface, these discontented misfits find themselves in an unlikely alliance that will alter the course of one long, sun-baked summer - and perhaps their lives.

“Whereas so many American writers dwell on failure to thrive in a dynamic nation, Poirier's characters rise to their challenges and emerge with credit.” —The Guardian

“Poirier's characters are believably eccentric, and his plots teem with the plausible weirdness of desert towns.” -- The Advocate

”It's a craftily concocted story with more than a few surprises.” -- The San Diego Union Tribune

Published by Hyperion and Bloomsbury UK

A delightful and terrifying collection of twenty short stories, edited by critically acclaimed writer and novelist Mark Jude Poirier.

Adolescence. Fortunately, it's over with early and once you've finished paying for therapy, there's still a chance to move on with your life.

The Worst Years of Your Life says it all: angst, depression, growing pains, puberty, nasty boys and nastier girls; these are stories of aaawkwardness and embarassment from a stellar list of contributors. Great postmodern classics like John Barth's "Lost in the Funhouse" are paired with newer selections, such as Stacey Richter's "The Beauty Treatment" and A.M. Homes's "A Real Doll," in this searing, unforgettable collection. A perfect book for revisiting old favorites and discovering new ones, and the opportunity to relive the worst years of your life -- without having to relive the worst years of your life.

“For adult readers, this rich, candid collection is bound to stir memories of their own growing pains, and more than a few words of thanks that they're in the past; for those in the thick of it, these stories will, if nothing else, take a little of the sting out of teenage loneliness and confusion.” — Publishers Weekly

Published by Simon and Schuster

From the new American West comes a voice that is at once wicked and sad, hilarious and perverse. Mark Jude Poirier's Naked Pueblo is a raucous collection that transports the reader to the heart of Tucson, Arizona: from the trailer parks to the desert, all-night supermarkets to fresh suburban lawns.

In rapid-fire succession we meet the misfits of the new frontier--Harper, who'll cook up any amount of frijoles in return for a prayer to St. Jude, Charles Backenbrush and his exotic choice of school art projects, the Monkey Chow-chomping rock climbers, and more. Barflies and bankers, disaffected teenagers and dispirited retirees, all connected by the exquisitely detailed city of Tucson and their search for a place to call home in the ever-changing landscape of the West.

"Mark Jude Poirier is one of the most kinetic, most original young fiction writers weve read in a long time. Naked Pueblo, his absolutely maximalist, throw-everything-in-and-shake-it-up short story collection, buzzes like some kind of whacked-out fever dream." — Esquire

“I don't like Americans and I ESPECIALLY don't like American short stories, where you can tell somebody got a Raymond Carver puncture kit for Christmas, but Mark Poirier's Naked Pueblo I found shatteringly brilliant.” – Julie Burchill, The Guardian

 "I think Naked Pueblo is an exciting first collection. Mark Poirier's prose has a kind of edgy rigor; his angle of attack is very original, aided by an eye that produces many surprises for his readers. Let's hope there will be a lot."        
-- Larry McMurtry

“Poirier's stories skip amiably from the mundane to the freakish. This is a refreshingly unsentimental collection in which rock climbers, mountain bike enthusiasts, slackers and drunks seem almost cheerfully doomed.” –Anthony Bourdain, The New York Times

Published by Crown/Random House, Hyperion, and Bloomsbury UK

As space insects begin to burrow into students and staff—transforming them into slobbering, babbling monsters—a conglomeration of misfits must band together to prevent the infestation from spreading. Meanwhile, Stacey’s long-stifled romantic feelings for her friend Charlotte begin to surface, while the professor she had admired and respected becomes the students’ worst enemy.

Illustrated with enormous wit and dynamism—mixing classic tropes from science fiction, indie comics, B-movies, and campus culture—this graphic novel is something different, a large-scale action/adventure story as seen from the point-of-view of a contemporary, realistic heroine. The result is a funny and singular work unlike anything else you’ve ever read.

"Told with energy and a subversive charm somewhere between Edgar Wright and Eli Roth.... An enjoyably irreverent diversion." – Kirkus Reviews

“Fun, fresh, and witty, Intro to Alien Invasion is somehow both a hilarious send-up and a heartfelt, unfettered celebration of the genre." – Jonathan Tropper

“Intro to Alien Invasion smuggles a sly, affectionate portrait of today’s train wreck college campus culture inside a fast-paced alien invasion saga. I couldn’t stop reading it!"– Patton Oswalt

 "How exactly do you write a hilarious B-movie alien invasion comic that somehow still contains a genuine love story? Put it in the hands of Owen King, Mark Jude Poirier, and Nancy Ahn, that's how. Intro to Alien Invasion is a hell of a lot of fun, plus it's kind of disgusting. Talk about a damn good time." – Victor Lavalle

Published by Scribner