Justine Moppett is 34, pregnant, and fleeing an abusive relationship in New York to dig up an even more traumatic childhood in Austin. Waiting for her there is a cast of more than a dozen misfits — a hemophobic aspiring serial killer, a deranged soprano opera singer, a debt-addicted entrepreneur-cum-madam, a matchmaking hermaphrodite — each hurtling toward their own calamities, and, ultimately, toward each other. A Texan Gabriel García Márquez who writes tragicomic twists reminiscent of John Kennedy Toole, Bill Cotter produces some of the most visceral, absurd, and downright hilarious sentences to be found in fiction today. The Parallel Apartments is a bold leap forward for a writer whose protean talents, whose sheer exuberance for language and what a novel can do, marks him as one of the most exciting stylists in America. Review"Reading Bill Cotter's The Parallel Apartments is like taking some kind of word drug, but a new one, synthesized in a desert lab from molecules of Lipsyte, Dickens, Pynchon, Williams, Chabon, DeWitt, and Joyce, and then spun together with Cotter's own unique particles to yield a book that produces an actual high when read. There's micro-attention paid to sweatpants material and the feel of artificial cheese powder on fingertips and the bouillon smell of nether regions. There is sadness. There is loneliness. There are riffs that make me wish an actor were there to read to me aloud, so I could cry from laughter without needing to clearly see the page. This book is an experience—it is a never-read-anything-like-it-before work of brainy, heartfelt joy." —Heidi Julavits, author of The Vanishers and The Effect of Living Backwards "Bill Cotter writes with so much dark wit, such a keen eye for unsettling detail, such a perfect ear for the ways in which his bruised yet hopeful characters think and speak, that the sheer force of his fictional mind took me by surprise. The Parallel Apartments is an amazing read." —Tom Barbash, author of Stay Up With Me "Four generations of Austin women—or five or three, depending on how you count—rivet our attention in this ribald and absolutely compelling novel. Both playfully absurd and absurdly playful, The Parallel Apartments is full of fresh language, exact observation, and—best of all—an underlying and genuine tenderness." —Scott Hutchins, author of A Working Theory of Love "Funny and profane and more than slightly unhinged." —Texas Monthly "Inventive and hilarious, The Parallel Apartments delights in the oddities of people and language. Inhabiting a mesmerizing and unnerving kaleidoscope world, Bill Cotter’s vivid characters turn “extreme” into the new normal. " —Full Stop "Apartments produces anxiety but ultimately rewards tribulation, recalling at times Updike’s capacity for wringing both pathos and humor from vulnerable circumstances. Cotter’s characters are both endearing and cringe-inducingly maladroit, and he does his best work in the awkwardness created by mishandled moments of human frailty. … Cotter’s stunningly constructed prose provides comfort from the mayhem." —Time Out New York "Cotter manages to be surreal, gruesome, and snortingly funny. Do yourself a favor and give in to The Parallel Apartments' gravitational pull." --Entertainment Weekly "By the time you're finished with The Parallel Apartments … you're going to want the author to accompany you everywhere for the rest of your life."—The Austin Chronicle "The Parallel Apartments is difficult to define. One part kooky comedy, one part family drama, one part exploration of womanhood, and one part gruesome catalogue of emotional dysfunction, Cotter’s second novel defies any particular genre, except, perhaps, Cotter’s own."—The T?exas ObserverAbout the AuthorBill Cotter was born in Dallas in 1964 and has worked as an antiquarian book dealer and restorer since 2000. He lives in Austin, TX, with the storyteller Annie La Ganga. His first novel was Fever Chart. Views: 9
Tina is the brightest young executive in a call centre, and an office romance adds spice to the hectic pace of work till a stalker strikes terror in her life. Vikram, a police officer, is sent to investigate a cyber-crime in the same call centre. His life takes a dramatic turn when his ex-girlfriend, Leila, now married to someone else, re-enters his life. Soon after, his assistant ends up dead. Tina, on one stormy evening, stumbles upon the plot behind these seemingly unrelated events which turns out to be something infinitely menacing. Views: 9
Michele is a successful business woman with a troubled private life. She has a high-powered job, a family, a husband, yet she is defined by a term of possession: she is 'Clara's daughter'. Nameless. When Michele moves her mother into the basement, her husband slams the door and disappears into the night. Michele increasingly hides away upstairs, as Clara weaves her conspiracies beneath. Clara's Daughter begins in terraced houses and city parks of North London but develops, through sharp-edged monologues and surreal visions, into a primeval stand-off between mother and daughter. Eventually, Clara – the controlling matriarch – finds a way to release her daughter. But can Michele release herself? Meike Ziervogel is a master of suspenseful storytelling. In Clara's clandestine power games and Michele's increasingly fraught dealings with both her mother and her own highly-strung sister, Hilary, there emerges a chilling, yet poignant family tableau. Devastating in... Views: 9
Facing a roomful of first-graders every day is easy for Grace, but the idea of falling in love terrifies her...Grace Marshall believes in the power of love—for everyone but herself. When Brad's kisses make her knees weak, along with her self-control, she breaks it off. It was the right thing to do... So why does she feel so miserable? Doctor Brad Gates is in love with Grace, has been since she first winked at him shortly after they met. The little dynamo is cute and fun and really loves life... but she's skittish where love's concerned. And it's driving him a little bit crazy. Getting back together while avoiding the "L" word is a lot harder than Grace imagined... especially when Brad starts dating another doctor from work. "If you like Hallmark movies, you'll love the Best Girls!""Lots of comical miscommunication makes for a super fun... Views: 9
Kendra Michaels could care less about Valentine’s Day. In fact, she thinks it’s a sham of a holiday designed to make single women feel guilty about not having a man on February 14th. She feels her life is complete, working at her dream job at a travel agency. She’s independent, happy, and successful. Why on earth would she need a Valentine to spoil everything? Mark Sullivan is Kendra’s boss. He’s been attracted to her for years, but never made a move because of her “no mixing business with pleasure” rule. With the agency in financial trouble, he has six weeks to come up with a Valentine’s Day strategy to increase sales and keep the agency from closing permanently. He immediately knows what he wants to do and who he wants to work closely with. His plan includes a trip to the Maldive Islands to show Kendra the true meaning of Valentine’s Day. The only question is will she open her eyes? Or will she be too busy resisting cupid? THIS BOOK IS A SHORT STORY Views: 9
"He has an evening suit, but never an occasion to wear it, so he puts it on when he paints his pictures."Insel, the only novel by the surrealist master Mina Loy, is a book like no other--about an impossible friendship amid the glamorous artistic bohemia of 1930s Paris.German painter Insel is a perpetual sponger and outsider--prone to writing elegant notes with messages like "Am starving to death except for a miracle--three o'clock Tuesday afternoon will be the end"--but somehow writer and art dealer Mrs. Jones likes him. Together, they sit in cafés, hatch grand plans, and share their artistic aspirations and disappointments. And they become friends. But as they grow ever closer, Mrs. Jones begins to realize just how powerful Insel's hold over her is. Unpublished during Loy's lifetime, Insel--which is loosely based on her friendship with the painter Richard Oelze--is a supremely surrealist, deliberately excessive creation:... Views: 9
Guy of Gisburne, knight and agent to Prince John, is all that stands between England and anarchy, fighting a shadow battle to protect the kingdom from those who would destroy it.Returning to England after foiling a plot to destroy Jerusalem, Guy of Gisburne is arrested and hauled to the Tower of London; John, England's regent in the absence of its monstrous King, needs his knight once more. A killer has broken into the Prince’s most secure castle in the north and left a message, drawn on the skin of one of his victims: 'the circle is closing,' signed with a handprint in blood. Is the threat genuine? Who or what is the Red Hand? Someone is killing John's men, and the obvious culprit – the most dangerous man in the Kingdom, Hood himself – has an alibi even Guy can't deny. Views: 9
Can't forget the pain.It took years for Adam to stop drowning his regrets in alcohol, and running the local bar doesn’t make it any easier—especially not when everyone he knows gathers there to discuss the shocking allegations that have shattered his hometown. When another murder rocks sleepy Madison to its core, it becomes chillingly clear that even more vicious wounds are waiting to be exposed.Won't resist the please.Nothing is sacred anymore, and no one is safe, least of all the mystery woman who shows up in town out of the blue, looking like every fantasy Adam’s ever had. She may have her own dangerous secrets, but she can’t ignore the urgent heat between them any more than he can. As a killer’s quest for vengeance explodes into violence, Adam is tempted to lose himself in the delicious promise of her body—until he realizes he’ll risk anything if she’ll give him her heart…in Sweeter than Sin by Shiloh Walker. Views: 9
