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THE ART OF STARVING

Sam J. Miller

Matt hasn't eaten in days.

His stomach stabs and twists inside, pleading for a meal. But Matt won't give in. The hunger clears his mind, keeps him sharp - and he needs to be as sharp as possible if he's going to fi nd out just how Tariq and his band of high school bullies drove his sister, Maya, away - what they did to make her steal off in the middle of the night without a word, a clue to where she was going, or even a good-bye.

Matt's hardworking mom keeps the kitchen crammed with food, but Matt can resist the siren call of casseroles and cookies because he has discovered something: the less he eats the more he seems to have . . . powers. The ability to see things he shouldn't be able to see. The skill of tuning in to thoughts right out of people's heads. Maybe even the authority to bend time and space. So what is lunch, really, compared to finding out the secrets of the universe?

Matt decides to infiltrate Tariq's life, then use his powers to uncover what happened. All he needs to do is keep the hunger and longing at bay, and find the truth. No problem. Except Matt doesn't realize there are many kinds of hunger, and he isn't in control of all of them. Sam J. Miller's debut novel will resonate with any reader who's ever craved the power that come with self-acceptance


Sam J. Miller is a writer and a community organizer. His fiction is in Lightspeed, Asimov's, Apex, Clarkesworld, Shimmer, Electric Velocipede, Nightmare, Strange Horizons, The Minnesota Review, Arts & Letters, and The Rumpus, among others, as well as multiple "best of the year" anthologies. He is a nominee for the Nebula and Theodore Sturgeon Awards, a winner of the Shirley Jackson Award, and a graduate of the Clarion Science Fiction & Fantasy Writer's Workshop. Sam co-edited Horror After 9/11, a critical anthology published in 2011 by the University of Texas Press, which was included in the "Brilliant/Lowbrow" quadrant of New York Magazine's famed "Approval Matrix." He lives in New York City.

A Seth Fisman Book for The Gernert Company.
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Published 2017-07-01 by HarperCollins

Comments

This book is an ache, a bruise, a slaughterhouse of a love story; every word is a blow, but every blow is an anthem. This is what truth feels and smells and tastes like, and it's one magnificent monster. -- Margaret Stohl, bestselling author of the Beautiful Creatures series

Beautiful rendered. This novel will break your heart and heal it again. I found myself leaning forward as I read it, barely aware of myself turning pages. So excited for Sam's voice in the world. --- Jacqueline Woodson, National Book Award winning author of Brown Girl Dreaming

[...]Matt's sarcastic, biting wit keeps readers rooting for him and hoping for his recovery. In his acknowledgments, Miller reveals the story's roots in his own teen experiences. A dark and lovely tale of supernatural vengeance and self-destruction. - Kirkus, starred Review Read more...

Miller's heartfelt debut novel tackles difficult subjects with a bold mix of magical realism, tender empathy and candor. Matt is delusional and anorexic, but he's also an admirably strong character who is out and proud, brilliant, creative, and determined to survive. It's not always easy to find novels with troubled gay male protagonists who aren't doomed, and Miller's creative portrait of a complex and sympathetic individual will provide a welcome mirror for kindred spirits. -- Booklist (starred review) Read more...

The Art of Starving is as mind-bending as it is heart-rending. Sam Miller has written a searing, daring, and unflinching story that I will not soon forget -- Alex London, author of Proxy

There is nothing romantic about debut novelist Miller's portrayal of anorexia; his descriptions are often graphic and disturbing, and discussion of Matt's future is brutally honest. -- Publisher's Weekly (starred review) Read more...

[...] It's not always easy to find novels with troubled gay male protagonists who aren't doomed, and Miller's creative portrait of a complex and sympathetic individual will provide a welcome mirror for kindred spirits. -- Booklist, starred review

As gritty with salted wounds as are all great fairytales, The Art of Starving is The Outsiders with superpowers. A quest to avenge his missing sister turns Matt into a self-perceived starvation saint. His journey from from addicted boy to recovering man should be shelved alongside the classic stories of unexpected salvation. -- Maria Dahvana Headley

Behind Matt is a vivid slice of struggling small-town family in a struggling small-town life, and it's heartbreaking and credible to see how vulnerable on all sides this makes him and why any kind of power, even a self-destroying one, is something to be seized.- The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Read more...