Tuesday 25 October 2011

I have a new book! Ode to Jouissance


£0.86 in the UK

$0.99 in the US

The cover photo is by the wonderful Veronika von Volkova. The model is inspirational Katelan Foisy. You can learn more about both here.

An ambitious scientist plots alone in her flat in 1930s Berlin. Her experiments, stolen from colleagues she has sent to their deaths in the madhouse and concentration camps, are sure to impress the new Minister of Propaganda. But a lifetime spent learning to control those around her is about to come back to haunt her as for the first time she falls under the spell of a more skilled manipulator than her.

A Spanish civil servant drives through the heart of the country to his mother’s home town where he must build a car factory to stop the town sinking into the desert. His companion on the journey is the Chinese businesswoman sent to finalise the deal. The woman who had been his first lover, decades earlier.

An elderly lady sits among friends in a care home. Together they remember the loves of their distant past. But Catherine has no interest in the past. She is certain a young Polish man is on his way to marry her.

Ode to Jouissance is a collection of three full-length (5000 words) short stories that explore nostalgia and eroticism in the fragments of modern Europe. From the youthful Ilke, through the middle-aged Ignacio to the elderly Catherin, these stories weave together to form a tapestry of desire that grows stronger and more fulfilled with age. With echoes of Kundera and Murakami, a gentle but insistent theme of hope amidst the ruins builds to a heartbreaking but uplifting crescendo.

14 comments:

  1. Congratulations, Dan! It sounds wonderful - and the cover is gorgeous.

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  2. This looks fascinating, Dan - well done. (again - how do you do it?)

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  3. Thank you both! I hope you now know each other, btw - I was trying to put you in touch last week :)

    The cover image is the work of the amazing Veronika von Volkova - it's part of a photoshoot with one of my dearest friends and colleagues, Katelan Foisy, who's based in New York but came over to the UK last year and put on two of the most memorable shows I can remember with us - if you get a chance to look at her work, please do - and her book Blood and Pudding is one of the most moving things I've ever read

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  4. I am following Shayne's blog. And looking forward to connecting over there - she's been very quiet recently. (Or blogger has forgotten to copy me in.)

    (Hi Shayne!)

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  5. Congrats Dan; looking forward to it.

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  6. More writing - you really must find a new hobby to occupy your time ;)

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  7. The blog contains informational and educational material. The post enhance my thoughts and experience. So nice!
    I've got to scramble to keep up with your prodigious output!

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  8. Bought it on my Kindle and looking forward to reading it, and I agree with the comments on the gorgeous cover.

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  9. Great information... thanks for you review and tutorial about how to comment.
    I think if we walk to other blog we most comment to give appreciate for owner.

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  10. Nice Site layout for your blog. I am looking forward to reading more from you.

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  11. Sounds great Dan. I hear the echoes of Murakami.

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  12. Very entertaining subject, I will bookmark your website to check out if you publish more in the future. Thanks!

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  13. This site is excellent and so is how the subject matter was explained. I also like some of the comments too.Waiting for next post.

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