{"product_id":"a-thing-is-only-known-when-it-is-gone-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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e The stories in \u003ci\u003eA Thing Is Only Known When It Is Gone\u003c\/i\u003e 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Ultimately, we may not want to live in a world in which our broken hearts are on display in external cages. But Baumann's sophisticated, nuanced storytelling makes us wonder, however briefly, whether such a world might be preferable to ours.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJoe Baumann is the chair of the MFA in Writing program at Lindenwood University. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eLake, Drive: A Novel\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eWhere Can I Take You When There's Nowhere to Go\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eTell Me: Stories\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"University of Wisconsin Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51359278825746,"sku":"9780299348946","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_0a6354de-13cc-4b0c-9b81-a5e62072b5d8.jpg?v=1749587315","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/a-thing-is-only-known-when-it-is-gone-9780299348946","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}