Overview

Lost in Space is a sometimes funny, sometimes sad, but always lively essay collection about fathers and sons, and their relationship to not only one another, but pop culture, death, and sex--because sex sells, even if you're otherwise focused on parenting and the generation spanning cultural impact of Star Wars. The essays in Lost in Space are focused on an array of child-rearing topics including sleep, discipline, first haircuts, deceased parents/grandparents and illness, and the inherent challenges and humor that coincide with, and are intrinsically tied-into, these stages of life. The essays also recognize the ongoing presence of the author's dead father in his life even as he seeks to parent without his father's guidance or advice.

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9780988480469

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Reviews

Ben Tanzer explodes the myths of fatherhood and reassembles the pieces into something altogether more precious and fascinating: the truth. The ugly, gorgeous, shameful, miraculous, transformative truth. This book is both funny and heartbreaking, and at times I thought he was transcribing directly from my own parent brain. Tanzer has a rare talent for making the everyday seem luminous. -- Jillian Lauren, NY Times bestselling author of Some Girls: My Life in a Harem and Pretty In Lost in Space, Tanzer manages to be both heartbreaking and funny, producing a book of beauty and truth about the complexity, the fear, pain, and primal love that being a parent entails. Tanzer raises the bar with this memoir, insisting that writers be truly honest, not make excuses for their feelings, to stare deep inside themselves, and still be entertaining, if not enlightening. -- Paula Bomer, author of Nine Months and Baby Ben Tanzer has that ever elusive elixir, that ability to be both funny and poignant simultaneously. These essays have that requisite gallows humor about being a parent, but there's tenderness oozing from the page, too, a kind of trickling empathy. -- Joshua Mohr, author of Fight Song, Termite Parade, Some Things That Meant the World to Me and Damascus They said it couldn't be done. They said, nobody dunks on Bill Cosby in the basketball court of dad-lit. And then Ben Tanzer's Lost in Space arrived. Funnier, more honest and a million times more relevant than the writing of JELL-O's favorite son, this tight little collection cuts to the soul of fathering children like nothing else. -- Patrick Wensink, Bestselling author of Broken Piano for President Ben Tanzer's Lost In Space will have you vacillating between laughter and despair, all the while reveling in the beauty of his razor-sharp prose and candid, witty observations on fatherhood, sleep deprivation, Patrick Ewing, and family life. Buy this book, yo. And prepare to be astonished.-- Jennifer Banash, author of White Lines and Silent Alarm

Ben Tanzer explodes the myths of fatherhood and reassembles the pieces into something altogether more precious and fascinating: the truth. The ugly, gorgeous, shameful, miraculous, transformative truth. This book is both funny and heartbreaking, and at times I thought he was transcribing directly from my own parent brain. Tanzer has a rare talent for making the everyday seem luminous. -- Jillian Lauren, NY Times bestselling author of Some Girls: My Life in a Harem and Pretty In Lost in Space, Tanzer manages to be both heartbreaking and funny, producing a book of beauty and truth about the complexity, the fear, pain, and primal love that being a parent entails. Tanzer raises the bar with this memoir, insisting that writers be truly honest, not make excuses for their feelings, to stare deep inside themselves, and still be entertaining, if not enlightening. -- Paula Bomer, author of Nine Months and Baby Ben Tanzer has that ever elusive elixir, that ability to be both funny and poignant simultaneously. These essays have that requisite gallows humor about being a parent, but there's tenderness oozing from the page, too, a kind of trickling empathy. -- Joshua Mohr, author of Fight Song, Termite Parade, Some Things That Meant the World to Me and Damascus They said it couldn't be done. They said, nobody dunks on Bill Cosby in the basketball court of dad-lit. And then Ben Tanzer's Lost in Space arrived. Funnier, more honest and a million times more relevant than the writing of JELL-O's favorite son, this tight little collection cuts to the soul of fathering children like nothing else. -- Patrick Wensink, Bestselling author of Broken Piano for President Ben Tanzer's Lost In Space will have you vacillating between laughter and despair, all the while reveling in the beauty of his razor-sharp prose and candid, witty observations on fatherhood, sleep deprivation, Patrick Ewing, and family life. Buy thisa

Ben Tanzer explodes the myths of fatherhood and reassembles the pieces into something altogether more precious and fascinating: the truth. The ugly, gorgeous, shameful, miraculous, transformative truth. This book is both funny and heartbreaking, and at times I thought he was transcribing directly from my own parent brain. Tanzer has a rare talent for making the everyday seem luminous. -- Jillian Lauren, NY Times bestselling author of Some Girls: My Life in a Harem and Pretty In Lost in Space, Tanzer manages to be both heartbreaking and funny, producing a book of beauty and truth about the complexity, the fear, pain, and primal love that being a parent entails. Tanzer raises the bar with this memoir, insisting that writers be truly honest, not make excuses for their feelings, to stare deep inside themselves, and still be entertaining, if not enlightening. -- Paula Bomer, author of Nine Months and Baby Ben Tanzer has that ever elusive elixir, that ability to be both funny and poignant simultaneously. These essays have that requisite gallows humor about being a parent, but there's tenderness oozing from the page, too, a kind of trickling empathy. -- Joshua Mohr, author of Fight Song, Termite Parade, Some Things That Meant the World to Me and Damascus They said it couldn't be done. They said, nobody dunks on Bill Cosby in the basketball court of dad-lit. And then Ben Tanzer's Lost in Space arrived. Funnier, more honest and a million times more relevant than the writing of JELL-O's favorite son, this tight little collection cuts to the soul of fathering children like nothing else. -- Patrick Wensink, Bestselling author of Broken Piano for President Ben Tanzer's Lost In Space will have you vacillating between laughter and despair, all the while reveling in the beauty of his razor-sharp prose and candid, witty observations on fatherhood, sleep deprivation, Patrick Ewing, and family life. Buy this book, yo. And prepare to be astonished. -- Jennifer Banash, author of White Lines and Silent Alarm

Author Information

Ben Tanzer is the author of the books My Father's House, You Can Make Him Like You, So Different Now, Orphans and Lost in Space, among others. Ben serves as Director of Publicity and Content Strategy at Curbside Splendor and can be found online at This Blog Will Change Your Life, the center of his growing lifestyle empire. He lives in Chicago with his wife and two sons. Steven Lafler: Steven Lafler is a cartoonist and illustrator who has done work for clients in the music industry, such as Sony Music and Bill Graham Presents, creating promotional materials for clients such as Leonard Cohen and Mike Watt. He has published graphic novels and comic books with the leading independents, including Top Shelf Productions (BugHouse, Baja, Scalawag), Manx Media (40 Hour Man, El Vocho), Fantagraphics Books (Dog Boy and other titles) and more.

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