Indie Book Buzz: Other Press

Indie Book Buzz is a brand new feature here at TNBBC. Over the next couple of weeks, we will be inviting members of the indie publishing houses to share which of their Summer and Fall 2011 releases they are most excited about!

These indie picks come to us from Terrie, Other Press's Online Publicity and Social Media Manager.

Summer 2011:

The Glitter Scene by Monika Fagerholm

August 9, 2011

The Glitter Scene, Fagerholm's follow up to the August Prize-winning novel The American Girl, is as dark, fugue-like, and gorgeous as its predecessor. The story centers around—or, more accurately, evolves out of and spins away from—the mysterious death of a young woman in a small Finnish coastal town. Reading this book is like walking a tightrope between a dream and a nightmare.

The Vices by Lawrence Douglas
August 16, 2011

Lawrence Douglas is one of my favorite Other Press authors (we published his previous novel, The Catastrophist, back in 2006). His wit and writing are both razor sharp, with a touch of the absurd. But beneath the humor is a real and penetrating exploration of how we construct identity, how our experiences, our family, our heritage and history combine to form a collage of self—and just how fragile that self-image can be.

Fall 2011:

Lamb by Bonnie Nadzam

September 12, 2011

I’m so excited about publishing this book, I find myself speaking in run-on sentences every time I talk about it. It’s a debut, a fact that continues to stun me every time I open it to reread a few pages. It’s the story of David Lamb, a narcissistic middle aged man who strikes up a friendship with an eleven year old girl and eventually abducts her, convinced that it’s in her best interest. It’s completely hypnotic—you feel repulsed and somehow inescapably drawn in. Bonnie Nadzam’s writing is so assured, so stark and beautiful, her characters so real and flawed and heartbreakingly sympathetic, and by contrast, her tale so dark and discomfiting, that the cumulative effect is nothing short of brilliant.

Calling Mr. King by Ronald De Feo
August 30, 2011

Ever wondered what a hired killer might think about Tudor architecture? No? Trust me, you want to find out. This wonderfully strange novel centers around a hitman in a career crisis. He’s losing his edge, growing impatient with his bosses, and contemplating retirement. As he follows his marks through London, New York, Paris, and Barcelona, he finds himself increasingly distracted, putting off jobs in order to bury his nose in a growing stack of books on art and architecture. Dive in and you’ll be hooked, right up to the pitch-perfect ending.

About Terrie:

Terrie Akers is the Online Publicity & Social Media Manager at Other Press. Her bookshelves are an eclectic mess, but mostly filled with modern poetry and contemporary fiction (a curiously high percentage of them by authors named David). After a decade in New York, she abandoned the east coast for Portland, OR in 2009. Find her on Twitter at @terrieakers and, of course, @otherpress.

So what do you think guys? See anything that catches your eye? Which of these books are you most excited to see release? Help TNBBC and Other Press spread the buzz about these books by sharing this post with others!