HOT AUTHORS SERIES // Part 2: The Unbearable Lightness of Tao Lin

Tao Lin as seen by Brea Souder for Canteen

On Friday, September 16th, we're teaming up with Canteen Magazine to throw a party and panel discussion celebrating their latest issue, which pairs 16 white-hot authors with 16 renowned photographers. Running up to that awesome event (which is part of the Brooklyn Book Festival), we're profiling some of the fine folks who'll be in attendance.

In Part I we kicked things off with Scallywag and Vagabond editor Christopher Kouloris. For Part 2, we turn to Brooklyn-based author Tao Lin.

We think it's safe to say that there is no other writer quite like Lin, who's been called everything from "a Kafka for the iPhone generation" and a "deadpan literary trickster" to a "world-class perpetrator of gimmickry" and "perhaps the single most irritating person we've ever had to deal with." And that last one came from Gawker.

Such colorful and varied descriptions stem from that fact that Lin is can often be hard to pin down. For instance, when we asked him what him about the subject of his next novel (which might be titled Taipei, Taiwan or Siddartha II), he responded, "It's about my experience of life."  More of this overall amazingness after the jump.

He elaborated a bit more for the Wall Street Journal:

"A 25-year-old has a failed relationship, experiences drug-induced 'depression,' gets married, and feels like his life has taken on a forward movement toward death," Mr. Lin explained in an email. "I predict I'll spend more time on this book than any previous book and view it as my 'magnum opus.'"

He was also more forthcoming when we asked about his recently-inked deal with Vintage:

I'm delighted they want to publish my next novel. Vintage is my "first choice," I think (actually Knopf is but they're closely associated; I think they're the paperback division of Knopf or something like that). I didn't think either would make an offer and felt excited when Vintage did. I've felt strongly attracted to Vintage's brand since before I knew what they were exactly, in 1999 or 2000, I think. I've felt comforted in life and distracted from despair by holding and reading and thinking about paperbacks of Lorrie Moore's LIKE LIFE and Joy Williams' HONORED GUEST and other books from Vintage. 

Lin already has two poetry books, two novels, a novella and a story collection under his belt. His most recent is Richard Yates, a novel that the Boston Globe described as having "the effect of putting a red butterfly behind glass: detached but brighter."

Since Canteen asked Lin about the hottest thing he's ever read, we thought we'd ask him the opposite. What's the least hot thing he's ever read? "Maybe ingredients for prepackaged carbs or 'fast food' items."

Can't exactly argue with that.

You can read Lin's "Relationship Story", which was recently published in Vice Magazine, and follow him via not one, but two Twitter accounts: @tao_lin and @tao_linunedited. His new novel is expected in 2013 (or um, 2014.)

-- John Ruscher