Everyone Wants to Be Ambassador to France

Book excerpt: “The fictional love child of Miranda July, George Saunders, and A.M. Homes . . . dark humor with just enough tenderness to make everything feel true.” ―Courtney Maum, author of I Am Having So Much Fun Here Without You A seagull, a goat, and a teenage boy enter into a bizarre love triangle that leaves one of them dead and the other two changed forever. A grief-stricken astronaut quits NASA to paint pictures of the moon. An eighteenth-century British aristocrat adopts two teenage girls and absconds with them to France, determined to raise one of them to become his perfect wife. By turns humorous and heartbreaking, this debut collection offers weird and wonderful stories that illuminate the hidden truths of life. “I have been a longtime fan of Bryan Hurt’s stories and what a joy to have them all together now in this book! They are a soup pot of the funniest dry sentences plus unusual facts that he unearthed from who knows where, and an unstated humanity tucked inside those facts, and a constant eye on the oddness of culture and the lilt of a well-placed phrase and a carrot. In our endlessly data-packed world, Hurt’s keen sparseness is a welcome addition to the bookshelves.” ―Aimee Bender, New York Times–bestselling author of The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake “Bryan Hurt’s stories are like no one else’s. They are by turns hilarious, whimsical, arresting, and heartbreaking, but what makes them such a delight is the sly simplicity and off-handed charm of their telling.” ―T.C. Boyle, New York Times–bestselling author of The Tortilla Curtain Winner of the Starcherone Prize for Innovative Fiction