I'm Not Scared of You or Anything

by Jon Paul Fiorentino

Fiction. Art. Illustrations by Maryanna Hardy. The characters in I'm not Scared of You or Anything are invigilators, fake martial arts experts, buskers, competitive pillow fighters, drug runners, and, of course, grad students. This collection of comedic short stories and exploratory texts is the ninth book by the critically acclaimed and award- winning author Jon Paul Fiorentino. Deftly illustrated by Maryanna Hardy, these texts ask important questions, like: How does a mild mannered loser navigate the bureaucratic terrain of exam supervision? What happens when you replace the text of Christian Archie comics with the text of Helene Cixous? And, most important of all, what would it be like if Mr. Spock was a character in the HBO series GIRLS?

"I'm sure something scares Jon Paul Fiorentino, and maybe it drives him toward the deadpan magic he wields so masterfully in these pages. This is a daring and funny collection."
-Sam Lipsyte

"[I'm Not Scared of You or Anything] is an apt title for a tightly unified collection populated by scared men with social awkwardness ... That disconnect and the elusiveness of masculinity are the two major sources of laughs here, but not in a bullying way. With stories told almost entirely in the first person and accompanied by Maryanna Hardy’s colour illustrations, we might laugh at these men, but we feel for them too."
-The Globe and Mail

"I’m Not Scared of You or Anything is a funny, weird trip. Fiorentino zigs when you think he’ll zag. The stories are an invitation to a party where all the guests are strangers to one another, and everything they say could either be a lie or a very uncomfortable truth. Kaufman would have approved."
-The Puritan

"Jon Paul Fiorentino has made a career of using humour to stand up for the lonely and vulnerable. In addition to the more straightforward, Sedaris-esque comic pieces, the new book sees Fiorentino carrying on his past practice of genre/discipline/media mash-ups. His most fully realized. "
-Montreal Gazette

"Fiorentino has a gift for explaining the anxieties, doubts, errors, loves and neediness of humans in a way that is easily readable due to his deadpan humour. I'm Not Scared of You or Anything is a collection for readers bored by more traditional CanLit. It's a book of outcasts, misfits and underdogs written for outcasts, misfits and underdogs. Unfiltered, Fiorentino deftly writes what some of us may think from time to time, but would never dare say aloud. He really isn't scared of anything. "
-Winnipeg Free Press

"This wild and wacky collection of short stories is never dull – they’re often very short, and the author has a wonderful ability to change the direction of the story entirely."
-The Boundary Sentinel

"I’m reading Jon Paul Fiorentino‘s I’m Not Scared of You or Anything. I love this book because the stories are really short and funny."
-Event Magazine

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories

160 pages, Paperback

First published June 21, 2014

About the author

Jon Paul Fiorentino is the author of I'm Not Scared of You or Anything (Anvil Press) and Needs Improvement (Coach House Books). He is also the author of the novel Stripmalling which was shortlisted for the Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction, and five poetry collections, including The Theory of the Loser Class, which was shortlisted for the A. M. Klein Prize and Indexical Elegies which won the 2010 CBC Books "Bookie" Award for Best Book of Poetry.

He has written for The National Post, Walrus, Maisonneuve, sub-Terrain, The Huffington Post, The Montreal Gazette, The Barnstomer, New American Writing, Hobo, Joyland, The Capilano Review, Event, The Winnipeg Review, The Queen Street Quarterly, fillingStation, Prism International, Opium and many other publications.

He lives in Montreal, where he teaches Creative Writing at Concordia University, is the editor-in-chief of Matrix magazine, is a poetry editor for Joyland, the poetry editor for the Snare Imprint of Invisible Publishing, and the fiction editor for the Serotonin/Wayside Imprint of Insomniac Press.

Reviews

[Jacqueline Valencia]

review in the upcoming summer 2014 DIY issue of Broken Pencil.

[Jessrawk · Rating 5 out of 5]

I almost forgot how much I adore Fiorentino's writing. Almost.

[Samira Soparkar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the writing style, with its mix of dark comedy and absurdity. May not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I could barely put it down.

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this more than I did in the end. The actual product is a thing of beauty, from the minimalist cover to the illustrations throughout. My issues were more with the writing and the collection of stories. To the latter point, and this is a pet peeve of mine with short fiction collections, I didn't feel much in the way of connective tissue, thematic or otherwise, between the narratives. Illustrated entries like "Critical Theory Archie" and "Mr. Spock Says Things from Episodes of Girls" were cute and well illustrated, but felt as if they belonged in a different collection altogether—similarly with "Jon Paul Fiorentino Interviews His Mother," which holds the coveted final spot in the collection and again feels entirely removed from the rest. It reminds me of Lynn Coady's Hellgoing a bit (yes, that won the Giller, but I still don't know why—The Antagonist was worlds stronger) in that this feels more like a collection of B-sides that maybe didn't fit anywhere else.

To the other point I mentioned, this is my first Fiorentino book and, well, his writing just didn't do it for me. It's not bad, but I found his humour, which is more absurdist than sarcastic, with characters often blurting out shit that anyone else would be horrified to speak aloud, simply tried too hard. It was manufactured comedy, and just didn't feel natural. But then, humour is one of the more subjective things in this world, so keep that in mind. This is a try before you buy, absolutely.

[Andrew Dearborn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the stories are a little to dark for me but over all I really enjoyed the book. The art is great as well.