{"product_id":"first-contact-warren-liu-9781935717263","title":"First Contact","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA formally experimental and absurdist mock-epic poem that melds speculative fiction and travel writing\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSomething on the horizon inches toward the drunken villagers of Zonal Beach, but what--or who--could it be? In \u003ci\u003eFirst Contact\u003c\/i\u003e, Warren Liu presents a hilarious, polyphonic poem that narrates the agonizingly slow-motion progress of a first contact encounter between coastal natives and shipwrecked would-be colonizers. Liu's wry, humorous poetry uses three distinct voices to highlight the inherent farce of coming up against a world entirely different from one's own. Slipping between tropes of colonial myth-making and alien encounters, Liu animates the strange, slanted rhymes of history with a voracious wit and deft ear. Whether narrating the choral chatter of the bewildered villagers or a mystic's pop-culture-informed oracular visions or the epistolary reminiscences of a lost exile, Liu demonstrates again and again how colliding with a new culture always happens first as farce, then as farce once more.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWarren Liu\u003c\/b\u003e is a professor of English at Scripps College in Claremont, California.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Warren Liu\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 193571726X\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781935717263\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Kaya Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 05\/26\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 112\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.50lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 7.50h x 5.30w x 0.60d","brand":"Warren Liu","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48487476920575,"sku":"9781935717263","price":18.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_c6dee72c-8d6f-4bb2-8a72-4c837e153dbf.jpg?v=1778060670","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/first-contact-warren-liu-9781935717263","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}