{"product_id":"manual-for-how-to-live-magnificently-stories-paperback","title":"Manual for How to Live Magnificently: Stories - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eErnie Wang\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThis debut collection turns the ordinary into sweeping tragicomedy, probing the small, daily confrontations that shape a life well lived.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn a debut collection at once deeply felt and delightfully playful, Ernie Wang presents ordinary people struggling with challenges that confront many today: how to find steady, meaningful work; how to manage when our healthcare system fails us; how to navigate thorny relationships with lovers, with friends, with children; how to keep one's dreams alive, and how to let them go. The thirteen stories in \u003ci\u003eManual for How to Live Magnificently\u003c\/i\u003e are intriguingly linked, with narrators becoming players and players becoming narrators. Several stories feature cameos by the irrepressible seventy-something Mabel Rogerson, who serves by turns as catalyst, comic relief, and means to catharsis. The book toggles among dramatically different locales--Dayton, Ohio; Las Vegas; Disneyland; Kamisoshigaya, Japan--drawing them thematically into a shared orbit. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThough each of Wang's offerings has heft and poignancy, the stories also serve up superb comic set pieces. A fake fortuneteller forgoes his crystal ball in favor of a snow globe; a priest moonlights as a professional wrestler named the Grim Preacher; a troubled lawyer who reluctantly cat-sits for a friend winds up finding solace with Killer and Hoedaddy. Revelations are reached at the male strip club Dayton Dix, or during a ritual spanking at Hofbräuhaus just off the Las Vegas Strip, or on Captain Hook's flying galleon during a theme park ride. And almost everyone eventually ends up at Applebee's. When storylines converge in a terrifying tragedy, Wang takes the opportunity to explore the complexity of family, to deepen our understanding of sacrifice and the many ways people demonstrate love for one another.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eErnie Wang\u003c\/b\u003e is a second-generation Chinese-Japanese-American. He grew up on US military bases in Japan, and for a short while worked as a contract specialist for the Department of Defense. His short fiction and essays appear in \u003ci\u003eChicago Quarterly Review, The Georgia Review, McSweeney's, Mississippi Review, Prairie Schooner, The Southern Review, Story\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e Threepenny Review, Gulf Coast, \u003c\/i\u003eand elsewhere.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 208\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.55 x 8.42 x 5.43 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e September 15, 2026\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56435912245553,"sku":"9781968209100","price":21.6,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1004\/9532\/7537\/files\/UIT5cLppoN9781968209100.webp?v=1790171510","url":"https:\/\/mitchellofficial.com\/products\/manual-for-how-to-live-magnificently-stories-paperback","provider":"MITCHELL","version":"1.0","type":"link"}