the lost tiki palaces of detroit book

THE LOST TIKI PALACES OF DETROIT
A new book of short fiction by Michael Zadoorian, author of SECOND HAND and THE LEISURE SEEKER. Cover by renowned artist Glenn Barr.

In The Lost Tiki Palaces of Detroit Michael Zadoorian follows characters coming to terms with the past and the present in a forgotten city. Brightly ironic with a determinedly retro point of view, these stories are infused with themes significant to any connoisseur of old and forgotten pop cultures.

The title story offers a mini-history of Detroit as told through the rise and fall of its Polynesian bars. Others include: A veterinary clinic worker travels to Mexico to stage a ritual for her lost animals; an elderly couple takes a final road trip to a mystery spot out west; a man spends his life waiting to inherit his parents’ kitschy 1960s furniture; a junk shop owner who must stop the stranger with a vendetta against him; an urban spelunker finds love and acceptance with a reader of his blog.

Rich with detail and brimming with feeling, Zadoorian’s deceptively simple stories lead readers into the inner lives of those making the best of their flawed surroundings and their own imperfections.

PRAISE FOR LTPOD:
“The stories in The Lost Tiki Palaces of Detroit begin on the west side before moving east and then downtown, a literary tour done with the admirable, offhand grace of the best guidebooks. Zadoorian knows the streets and side streets and alleyways of his city and its surround; better, he knows the humor, the sadness, and the sometimes hidden beauty of life in the Rust Belt, and he pins it down on the page with wonderful precision.”
— Paul Clements, author of Made in Detroit

“What can one say of Zadoorian—chronicler of the lost, of junk and detritus, of the second-hand and hand-me-down. The abandoned. The soon-to-be-no-more. There is such poetry in these stories. Such wry wit and sadness. Such despair and, oddly, hope. In The Lost Tiki Palaces of Detroit, the city becomes a whole nation’s ruined Byzantium: destitute and still strangely desired. Lost. And found again.”
— Christopher T. Leland, professor of English at Wayne State University and author of Letting Loose

“The stories in Michael Zadoorian’s new collection, The Lost Tiki Palaces of Detroit, represent the serrated leading edge of the Barthelmean aesthetic dictum of being on ‘the leading edge of the junk phenomenon.’ The prose here is a cacophonous chockablock collision with a no-nonsense nonsense knockout nominative wall of sound. This collection is stuffed with stuff.”
— Michael Martone, author of Michael Martone and The Blue Guide to Indiana

“The stories in The Lost Tiki Palaces of Detroit give the reader such a deep and intimate vicarious journey, one would think that Zadoorian has had several past lives to draw on for material. As I read, I was always amazed to discover what lurked beneath them.”
— Luis Resto, Oscar- and Grammy-winning composer of “Lose Yourself” from 8 Mile

Michaelzadoorian.com
http://wsupress.wayne.edu/books/1019/Lost-Tiki-Palaces-of-Detroit

Thanks,

I will check it out, I am currently reading the "leisure seeker" and enjoying it thoroughly, and I appreciated the "Chin tiki" shirt the author was wearing on the dust jacket.

The cover art by Glenn Barr (one of my favorite artists)is great, I recently aquired a large "tiki bar" styled commission from him.

Hey Sirginn-
Thank you for reading this. I wasn't sure if anyone would find this notice about the book in the midst of so many others, but you did.

So glad that you're enjoying THE LEISURE SEEKER. Actually, that book was inspired by one of the stories in LOST TIKI PALACES. It's called "Mystery Spot." The novel is obviously much longer and considerably different, but the characters are the same and it was definitely the starting point for the book.

Thanks for your interest. And for noticing my Chin Tiki t-shirt.

Aloha,
Michael Zadoorian

Hey Michael - I've been meaning to pick up that book. In the process of getting it, Leisure Seeker and Second Hand sent to me. Been looking for another author to dig into. Can't wait! Thanks.