Vanessa Veselka is a writer and musician living in Portland, Oregon. She has been, at various times, a teenage runaway, a sex-worker, a union organizer, a student of paleontology, an expatriate, an independent record label owner, a train-hopper, a waitress, and a mother. Zazen is her first novel. 

I went to work and a guy I wait on said he was leaving. He said everyone he knew was pulling out.

"Canada is just not far enough. Maybe Mexico. A bunch to Thailand. Some to Bali."

He always orders a Tofu Scramble and makes me write a fucking essay to the cook. No soy sauce in the oil mix, no garlic, extra tomato, no green pepper. Add feta. Potatoes crispy and when are we going to get spelt. He holds me personally responsible for his continued patronage. I hope he dies. I'd like to read about it.

–first three paragraphs of Zazen