Vincent Chu / Like a Champion

The Bindery is thrilled to host the launch for Vincent Chu’s debut story collection, Like a Champion! Please join us.

In eighteen stories that shine a light on people who are far from champions, Like a Champion is an ode to underdogs and long shots, sad office parties and one-sided basketball games, disappointed worker bees and hopeful lovers.

A lonely businessman on a cruise finds comfort in an unlikely companion. Two high school friends try to survive their last backyard wrestling match only to learn that not all endings can be choreographed. An expat teacher struggles with her new life overseas until a familiar stranger joins the faculty. A young woman fails to make progress in a strip mall boxing gym before discovering strength in her breaking point.

Vincent Chu’s work is funny and big-hearted, and imbued with a generosity and warmth that reminds us that moments of glory can happen when we least expect it.

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“In Like a Champion, Vincent Chu decidedly hands us a triumphant collection of surprising, energetic stories and good, weird, sometimes sad people. It is an intimate book that made me laugh out loud more than once. We are safe in Chu’s hands as he tackles the anxious thoughts of people who want to be loved and included, of characters all-too-painfully human, and he knows exactly when to close the door on these stories. I read this book thinking, oh bless their hearts, bless all of our hearts.” — Leesa Cross-Smith, author of Every Kiss A War and Whiskey & Ribbons.
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Vincent Chu was born in Oakland, California. His fiction has appeared in PANK Magazine, East Bay Review, Pithead Chapel, Cooper Street, Stockholm Review, Chicago Literati, WhiskeyPaper and elsewhere. He has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Sundress Publications Best of the Net. This is his debut collection. He wrote most of the stories in Cologne, Germany. He can be found online at www.vincentchuwriter.com or @herrchu.