420 Characters is a 2011 collection of ultra‑short stories by Lou Beach, each originally written as a Facebook status update capped at 420 characters, later published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt with 176 pages and Beach’s original collage
Within this collection of miniature stories, entire worlds take shape—some like our own, some hallucinatory fairylands--populated by heartsick cowboys, random criminals, lovers and drifters.
In a dazzling narrative constellation, Beach’s characters contend with the strange and terrible and beautiful in life, and no outcome is certain.
Lou Beach is an award-winning illustrator and gallery artist
Begun as a series of Facebook status updates, 420 Characters marks a new turn in an acclaimed artist and illustrator’s career, and features original collages by the author.
