To Assume a Pleasing Shape

Fiction

To Assume a Pleasing Shape

by Joseph Salvatore

A body-pierced goth girl cage-dances for a living while putting herself through school. A New York City academic reevaluates her closest relationships while considering breast-reduction surgery. A chatty Gulf War veteran is plagued by a sexual identity crisis. The characters in this debut short story collection search for meaning through the crucible of sex. Joseph Salvatore’s top-notch literary writing coaxes readers into murky territories as characters spiral deeper into existential rabbit holes.

FormatPaperback

$14.00

About the Author

Joseph Salvatore

About the Author

Joseph Salvatore's debut collection of short stories, To Assume a Pleasing Shape, was published by BOA in 2011. He is a regular fiction reviewer for The New York Times Book Review and is assistant professor at The New School, where he founded their literary journal, LIT. His work has appeared in The Brooklyn Rail, Dossier Journal, H.O.W. Journal, LIT, New York Tyrant, Open City, Post Road, Salt Hill, Sleeping Fish, Willow Springs, 110 Stories (NYU Press, 2001), and Routeledge’s Encyclopedia of Queer Culture (2003). For more information about Joseph Salvatore, visit josephsalvatore.com

Joseph Fasano

Authors · Featured

Joseph Fasano

Joseph Fasano is a poet, novelist, and songwriter. His books include The Last Song of the World (2024), The Swallows of Lunetto (2022), The…

Read More

Spring Book Bundle

Book Bundles · Featured

Spring Book Bundle

Welcome Spring Book Bundlers! With this one-time purchase you will receive a box with all titles from Boa's spring season. This Spring Book Bundle…

Read More

Boa Book Lovers Subscription

Book Subscriptions · Featured

Boa Book Lovers Subscription

Subscribe and save on all forthcoming Boa titles within the calendar year! At the start of each season (every 6 months), subscribers will receive…

Read More

Unlucky Lucky Days

Fiction · Featured

Unlucky Lucky Days

Inventive, disconcerting, and hilarious, these 73 tales of our Unlucky Lucky Days might well be termed Dr. Seuss for adults. They call to mind…

Read More

Blood on the Leaves

New Release · Featured

Blood on the Leaves

Blood on the Leaves by Hope Wabuke is a searing and lyrical poetry collection that explores the intimate, haunted relationship between Blackness and the natural…

Read More

Breaking the Alabaster Jar: Conversations with Li-Young Lee

Nonfiction · Featured

Breaking the Alabaster Jar: Conversations with Li-Young Lee

Signed copies available in limited quantities The interviews with major award-winning poet Li-Young Lee in Breaking the Alabaster Jar offer access to the poet's…

Read More

Body Language: Poems of the Medical Training Experience

Poetry · Featured

Body Language: Poems of the Medical Training Experience

Body Language: Poems of the Medical Training Experience is an anthology comprised of poems by physicians and medical students chronicling their unique, often harrowing…

Read More

Splendor

Rare and Signed · Featured

Splendor

Signed copies available in limited supply Steve Kronen's poems explore the hardships that daily challenge the human heart. From such hardships, compassion and empathy…

Read More

I Don't Believe in Ghosts

Translations · Featured

I Don't Believe in Ghosts

The poems in I Don’t Believe in Ghosts come from Meduza, a collection Zeqo wrote roughly between 1970-1974, that challenged some of the core…

Read More