Now in paperback, from a “multi-faceted, medium-hopping, culture skewering performer” ( SPIN) , this is a journey through the world of Patton Oswalt, best known for his roles in film ( Big Fan and Ratatouille ) and television ( The King of Queens and The United States of Tara ) , but also beloved for his ascerbic, highly eloquent, and wildly funny standup comedy. Prepare yourself for a journey through the world of Patton Oswalt, one of the most creative, insightful, and hysterical voices on the entertain­ment scene today. Widely known for his roles in the films Big Fan and Ratatouille, as well as the television hit The King of Queens, Patton Oswalt—a staple of Comedy Central—has been amusing audiences for decades. Now, with Zombie Spaceship Wasteland, he offers a fascinating look into his most unusual, and lovable, mindscape. Oswalt combines memoir with uproarious humor, from snow forts to Dungeons & Dragons to gifts from Grandma that had to be explained. He remem­bers his teen summers spent working in a movie Cineplex and his early years doing stand-up. Readers are also treated to several graphic elements, includ­ing a vampire tale for the rest of us and some greeting cards with a special touch. Then there’s the book’s centerpiece, which posits that before all young creative minds have anything to write about, they will home in on one of three story lines: zom­bies, spaceships, or wastelands. Oswalt chose wastelands, and ever since he has been mining our society’s wasteland for perversion and excess, pop culture and fatty foods, indie rock and single-malt scotch. Zombie Spaceship Wasteland is an inventive account of the evolution of Patton Oswalt’s wildly insightful worldview, sure to indulge his legion of fans and lure many new admirers to his very entertaining “wasteland.” "Patton Oswalt...is one of those rare performers whose material translates into any medium without losing its sharpness--including, for the first time, print. . . . It is well worth it to join him on his odyssey."-- Washington Post “Sharp storytelling and sardonic wit.... Oswalt populates these stories with expertly drawn characters, and infuses them with a limitless supply of cultural references and deft turns of phrase.” — Boston Globe “A thoughtful, hilarious, quasi-memoir that puts the standard-issue comedy-routine-in-book-form to shame.” —SPIN “Patton Oswalt is one of those rare performers whose material translates into any medium without losing its sharpness—including, for the first time, print.... It is well worth it to join him on his odyssey.” — Washington Post "A very funny book by the Funniest Man Alive." --GQ Patton Oswalt is the author of the New York Times bestseller Zombie Spaceship Wasteland . He has released four TV specials and four critically acclaimed comedy albums, including the Grammy-nominated My Weakness Is Strong . He put together the Comedians of Comedy tour and television series. Oswalt has also appeared on many television shows and in more than twenty films, including Young Adult , Big Fan , and Ratatouille . He lives in Los Angeles, California. Zombie Spaceship Wasteland Preface Foreword Intro In middle school, I started reading . I’d been “reading” since kindergarten. It was dutiful and orderly. Point B followed Point A. But something happened in middle school—a perfect alignment of parental support and benign neglect. The parental “support” came from keeping me stocked in Beverly Cleary, John Bellairs, The Great Brain books, and Daniel Pinkwater. Also Bridge to Terabithia, The Pushcart War, How to Eat Fried Worms —and the parallel-universe, one-two mind-crack of The Bully of Barkham Street and A Dog on Barkham Street . And then there was the blessed, benign neglect. The “neglect” grew out of the same “support.” My mom and dad were both busy, working jobs and trying to raise two kids during uncertain times. In the rush of trying to find something new for me to read, they’d grab something off the shelf at Waldenbooks after only glancing at the copy on the back. Whoever did a lousy job writing copy for books like Richard Brautigan’s The Hawkline Monster, H. P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness, Harlan Ellison’s The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World, and Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange (“It’s about a teenager in the future!” said my mom)—thank you. Thank you thank you thank you . You gave me some tangy, roiling stew under the golden crust of the Young Adult literature I was gobbling up. So yes, I still love Bellairs’s The House with a Clock in Its Walls, but I always imagine the two bounty killers from The Hawkline Monster in its basement, armed for bear and fucking the Magic Child on a rug. And somewhere beyond John Christopher’s White Mountains are Vic and Blood, hunting for canned food and pussy. And who prowled the outer woods of Terabithia? Yog-Sothoth, that’s who. It’s a gift and an affliction at the same