A collection of new and selected works from Lambda Literary Award and Asian-American Literary Award winner Brian Leung.

In a cultural moment where folks are stripped of the their dignity or shed it willingly, the figures in this book wonder at the utility of maintaining their own. There's a touch of Hamlet's question in there along with some I Ching. Can monkeys pray? Are we better off living in the real world or a speculative one?

Through an essay, a novella, and short and flash fiction pieces, A Terrifying Brush with Optimism is at once leaping, thoughtful, diverse, comic, and brooding.