Little Wonder is the paperback version of Kat Gardiner's debut collection of microfiction. The book is 5" x 7" in size, 112 pages.
Asymmetric and misremembered, Little Wonder fictionalizes the experience of opening and closing an all-ages music venue and café with her husband in the small Pacific Northwest town of Anacortes, Washington in 2008. An adult coming-of-age story told in fragments, Gardiner explores the bittersweet love affair that takes place between despair and hope whenever you try with all your heart to do something you believe in, and fail. Cover design and layout by Amy F. Madden. Illustrations by Jessica Lynch. All musical references are real and featuring appearances by Little Wings, Mirah, Neko Case, Karl Blau, Tiny Vipers, Calvin Johnson, and many others.
ABOUT KAT GARDINER:
Born in Oklahoma, raised in the Pacific Northwest, and based in Detroit, Kat Gardiner carries a restlessness through her writing that's been honed by a lifelong search for roots. Her debut collection of short fiction, Little Wonder, springs from the year Gardiner spent in Anacortes, Washington, during her early twenties. Young and idealistic, she opened a coffee shop and music venue with her husband in the hopes of finding a home in the city's artistic community. The experiment lasted exactly one year. Gardiner closed the coffee shop and moved away from Anacortes, ending a stressful and dreamlike chapter in her life.
Gardiner studied creative writing at Bennington College in Vermont, and later took workshops with Tom Spanbauer, the creator of the technique known as Dangerous Writing, in Portland, Oregon. In developing her craft, she found herself drawn to microfiction, citing Lydia Davis as a touchstone. "There's something powerful in succinct details,"Gardiner says. Writing in short, interconnected fragments enabled her to revisit the year spent in Anacortes with a new sense of perspective. Little Wonder reads like a series of love notes to a former self, or a collection of Polaroids made golden with age. Gardiner's characters navigate frustration, loss, and heartbreak, but they also come into new versions of themselves, a transformation they may not recognize in the moment. Through poignant vignettes furnished generously with detail, Gardiner looks into what it means to enter the world and realize that the world is not nearly as amenable to change as an optimistic young person might think. "It's been liberating to make art out of both the painful and the joyous parts of that experience," she says. With Little Wonder, she's shed light on the idea that joy and pain are often two sides of the same coin — and that being alive in this world can necessitate embracing both.
Paint Bucket T-Shirt
Remember Sports
$25 USD
Father/Daughter Bubble Tote
$25 USD
Lines T-Shirt
S. Raekwon
$25 USD
Demon Margo Zipper Tote Bag
mui zyu
$25 USD
Get Wrong –
Limited Edition CD
Get Wrong
$10 USD
Never Press Paws Socks
$20 USD
Schroeder One More Time Tee
$25 USD
Snarfield & Goopy Logo Tee (Black)
$25 USD
Goddess Energy T-Shirt
Who Is She?
$25 USD
Laundromat –
CD Digipak
Pickle Darling
$10 USD
Laundromat –
Pink Blob 12" Vinyl
Pickle Darling
$22 USD
Cloud Tee
Pickle Darling
Sold Out
Laundromat –
Light Blue Cassette
Pickle Darling
$9 USD
Rowlf Black Parade Tee
$25 USD
Schroeder One More Time Hoodie
$40 USD
Weird Al Boxcar Tee
$25 USD
Home Is Where Tee
Sold Out
Custom Notebook
Esther Rose
$10 USD
Father/Daughter Beanie
$20 USD
Black F/D Family Crew (FW2021 Collection)
$45 USD
Olive F/D Long Sleeve (FW2021 Collection)
$35 USD
Tan F/D Vase Tee (FW2021 Collection)
$25 USD
White F/D Flower Tee (FW2021 Collection)
$25 USD
Moon Tee
Tasha
$25 USD
I saw first light Tee
Anna McClellan
$20 USD
Diet Cig University Tee
Diet Cig
$20 USD
Snarfield and Goopy Logo Tee
$10 USD
Youth Crew Tee
Anjimile
$20 USD
F/D's Burgers Tee
$20 USD
Playing Card Tee
$20 USD
Swim Team –
CD Digipak
christelle bofale
$10 USD
BUNDLE: Little Wonder & A Million Miles
$16 USD
You're A Shooting Star, I'm A Sinking Ship –
CD Digipak
whitney ballen
$10 USD
Stranger to the Pain –
CD Digipak
Pllush
$10 USD
Rock 'n' Roll Themed Logo Tank
$10 USD
Rock 'n' Roll Themed Logo Tee
$10 USD
Father/Daughter Records San Francisco, California
Living at the intersection of whole-hearted passion and explorative craft, Father/Daughter Records journeys into the unique, reminding you of music’s honest and reflective state. We are an independent record label fueled by an unrivaled support for artists and shared heart with listeners. ... more
Contact Father/Daughter Records
Streaming and Download help