Author Charles Yu hopes you like his new book , but if not , an apology is built right into the title . `` Sorry Please Thank You '' is his new collection of mind-bending , moving and sometimes melancholy stories arriving in bookstores July 24 . Yu 's 2010 novel , `` How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe , '' was named one of the best books of the year by TIME magazine . It dealt with a fictional version of the author , another Charles Yu , a lonely time machine repairman stuck in a time loop . In his new book , Yu returns to skewer more science fiction concepts , including the multiverse , time travel , video games and zombies . While he pokes fun at pop culture , Yu also finds the human moments in what he often portrays as an increasingly isolated and sterile existence . Yu 's quirky mix of science fiction and social commentary has attracted a loyal following among discerning readers and critics . He has been favorably compared to writers like Kurt Vonnegut , Philip Roth and Jonathan Lethem . When he 's not writing , Yu is a lawyer living in Los Angeles with his wife and their two children . CNN recently interviewed Yu by e-mail . The following is an edited transcript . CNN : Where did the title come from ? Yu : The title comes from the last story in the book . It was originally a piece that I actually wrote onto a cocktail napkin , as part of Esquire 's Napkin Fiction Project , and which I expanded for the collection . A lot of the stories in the book are about different universes , some big , some small , some of which already exist today , and some of which are not hard to imagine in the near future . These are artificial environments created or enabled through technology , and I was interested in how people communicate , in these environments , about how people talk to each other , about what limitations there are in language as a medium to express our desires , how technology might remove some of those limitations , but create new ones we 've never had before . `` Sorry Please Thank You '' seemed appropriate as a title , being words for concepts that , if not universal , are found in a great many languages and cultures . See the story Charles Yu wrote on a cocktail napkin that inspired his latest book . CNN : Was this book any harder or easier to write than your last ? Yu : It was harder . This is my third book , and each one has been harder than the last . I 'm not sure I like the way this trend is going . ... CNN : Where do you find your ideas and inspiration ? Yu : I go looking for them in a bunch of places , and they 're never where they are supposed to be . So I take a break , sit down , gaze off into some corner of the room , and there it is : an idea . The problem is , the next time I will start by looking in that same corner , and of course there 's nothing there anymore . So I start the process over again . CNN : Do you think multiple universes exist and are there alternate Charles Yus out there ? Yu : I 've been fascinated by the idea of a multiverse ever since I first learned of it , from my alternate self . OK , no , not from my alternate self . From a book by David Deutsch , who I have raved about elsewhere . And now , I 'm fascinated to be reading about all of these other speculative hypotheses about different kinds of multiverses . It 's a really mind-scrambling idea , the kind of idea that , once it 's in your head , it 's hard to remember what it was like before you 'd ever been exposed to it . I personally hope there are no alternate universes ( except in the sense that Deutsch uses the term ) , though . This one is strange enough , and if it turns out to be the only one , that would make it even more mysterious . CNN : The future you write about often feels sad and lonely . With that in mind , do you think new technology is making us more isolated ? Yu : With , say , social media , in the short term , I think it 's a multiplier and an aggregator and an accelerator . It does n't change who we are , it just enables us to say things faster , and to more people -- but at some point that quantitative effect shades into a qualitative change in how we relate to each other . And some aspects of social media make us more connected . But other aspects reduce the need , and to some extent , desire , to talk to people face-to-face , and it 's easy to understand how those aspects might be making some people feel more lonely than ever . But social media is just one part of technology . There are so many other incredible things being developed now . For instance , I watched that video a few weeks ago , of the woman , a quadriplegic woman , who moved a robotic arm with her mind . So that she could take a sip of her drink . The look on her face as she did it ( and the look on the face of the researcher who was with her ) -- it was unbelievable and moving and I could not stop watching it , over and over again . Here is a person who is , in some ways , more isolated than anyone -- her desire , her will to move is trapped inside of her unmovable body . And technology and human ingenuity has brought her will back into the world , reconnected her with the objects and people around her . CNN : You 've been described as a science-fiction writer and compared to writers like Kurt Vonnegut , Philip Roth and Jonathan Lethem . What do you think of these labels and comparisons ? Yu : Those are all ludicrous comparisons . And I welcome them wholeheartedly . But seriously , the three writers you just named are on the very top shelf of my personal pantheon , along with a few others . I go back to them over and over again for inspiration and , of course , to steal whatever I can from them . As for the label science-fiction writer -- I 'll take it , and wear that label with pride . But there 's plenty of room on my shirt for other labels , too . CNN : What does your family think of your writing ? Yu : They 're very supportive . And my daughter , who is 4 , is starting to tell people that her dad is a `` book writer '' which makes me feel the strangest kind of pride , for some reason . I think it 's the way she says it -- matter of fact , like , you 're dad 's a fireman ? Oh , that 's cool , mine is a book writer . Read an excerpt from `` Sorry Please Thank You ''
David Yu 's ` ` Sorry Please Thank You '' collection explores emotion and time travel . Yu 's work has been compared to Kurt Vonnegut , Philip Roth and Jonathan Miller . Yu is also a lawyer , who lives in Los Angeles with his wife and daughter .