American novelist John Manderino's latest work is a sparkling, hilarious novella, Bopper's Progress. Told over the course of a day in the life of Bopper, a directionless young man who has found himself on a month-long Zen Buddhist retreat, Manderino probes life's most challenging questions with sharp observations, uproarious dialogue, and a clarity of prose rarely found.

Manderino lives in Maine with his wife Marie, where he teaches college writing. He has published three novels, two short story collections and a memoir with Academy Chicago. John has also written plays that have been performed at theatre festivals and other venues. A stage version of his memoir Crying at Movies was produced.

"Manderino's work is able to poke fun at the fear that so ably sparks our imaginations, while simul- taneously revealing a shared feature of humanity that is both reassuring and haunting in its own right."
- Cory Johnston, Books Editor, The Literary Review