These stories are all true, but only somewhere else. As early as he can remember, the hopelessly unreliable - yet hopelessly earnest - narrator of this remarkable debut novel has wanted to become a writer. From the jazz clubs of Manhattan to the villages of Sri Lanka, Kristopher Jansma's irresistible narrator will be inspired and haunted by the success of his greatest friend and rival in writing, the eccentric and brilliantly talented Julian McGann, and endlessly enamored with Julian's enchanting friend Evelyn, the green-eyed girl who got away. After the trio has a disastrous falling-out, desperate to tell the truth in his writing and to figure out who he really is, Jansma's narrator finds himself caught in a never-ending web of lies. As much a story about a young man and his friends trying to make their way in the world as it is a profoundly affecting exploration of the nature of truth and storytelling, The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards is a warm, witty, and inventive literary tour de force that heralds Jansma as a bold, new American voice.
"The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards is my new exhibit A for the defense of literary fiction. A great read - a must read. Kristopher Jasma is more than the real-deal. He's made himself, with this book, essential."
Darin Strauss, author of More Than It Hurts You
"Light and airy, The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards is a funhouse of a novel about the outsized ambitions of authors and the sneaky power of storytelling. Kristopher Jansma's debut is a whimsical round-the-world tour that recalls Calvino, Millhauser and The Confidence Man."
Stewart O'Nan, author of Last Night at the Lobster
"Kristopher Jansma is a brilliant writer of energetic, original, intelligent, skillful and highly imaginative and hysterically funny fiction. Few writers of any age succeed in the chances he took with The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards. That he does so with such finesse, ease and maturity is astounding."
