{"title":"Heresy Press","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"nothing-sacred-outspoken-voices-in-contemporary-fiction","title":"Nothing Sacred: Outspoken Voices in Contemporary Fiction","description":"\u003cp\u003eAt a time when the American publishing industry increasingly perceives fiction lovers as rather delicate creatures—easily offended, allergic to ambiguity, afraid to venture outside their comfort zones—\u003cem\u003eNothing Sacred: Outspoken Voices in Contemporary Fiction\u003c\/em\u003e was born of the opposite assumption. While the twelve authors represented in this anthology could scarcely be more diverse in their worldviews, cultural backgrounds, thematic obsessions, and prose styles, they all share two attributes: an abiding respect for their readers, and a ravenous appetite for audacity. Among the characters you'll encounter in these stories are a former child star who fears he has become just another piece of Hollywood jetsam; a band of Cuban immigrant children determined to celebrate Independence Day on their own terms; a Holocaust survivor turned serial killer; an alternate-history Malcolm X confronting J.Edgar Hoover's squad of zombies; a medical student who supports himself by starring in video porn; a rogue AI in thrall to a notorious Christian heresy; and a Tennessee Trump voter with a gift for making moonshine whiskey and spouting colorful rhetoric.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBernard Schweizer\u003c\/strong\u003e is a literary scholar with twelve books (monographs, essay collections, and editions) to his credit, including the pioneering study \u003cem\u003eHating God: The Untold Story of Misotheism\u003c\/em\u003e (Oxford University Press, 2011) and British feminist writer Rebecca West's posthumous work \u003cem\u003eSurvivors in Mexico\u003c\/em\u003e (Yale University Press, 2003), which Schweizer put together from the author's archives. Schweizer, who grew up in Switzerland, earned a Ph.D. in British Literature from Duke University and then joined the English faculty at Long Island University, Brooklyn, in 2002. After retiring as an emeritus professor in 2019, his literary passions drove him to found Heresy Press as a haven for ambitious, outspoken fiction from writers of all backgrounds.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eJames Morrow\u003c\/strong\u003e is an American writer specializing in historical fiction and \u003cem\u003efantasika\u003c\/em\u003e. To date he has published four stand-alone novellas and ten novels, including the critically acclaimed \u003cem\u003eGodhed Trilogy\u003c\/em\u003e. His literary honors include the World Fantasy Award (twice), the Nebula Award (twice), and the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award. Morrow lives in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, in proximity to his adored wife, two enigmatic sheepdogs, and a beloved broken-down houseboat.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"I highly recommend this gathering of boldly original voices with a predominant tone of wild invention and fearlessness side by side with the intimacy of domestic life in our turbulent American times.\" -\u003cstrong\u003e Joyce Carol Oates\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Incandescent . . . perhaps the finest, most courageous, most profoundly moving anthology I've read in a decade or two. Here gathered is genius, compassion, courage . . . an exhilarating gift to readers everywhere.\" - \u003cstrong\u003eJunot Díaz\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Pushing the boundaries at every turn, Nothing Sacred gathers twelve stories of virtuoso eclecticism and ingenuity. Its storytellers are wildly different in vision and formal approach, and the tales they tell form a literary crazy quilt that leaves the reader bewildered, dazzled, and wanting to read more. Often dark, sometimes hilarious, always distinctive, this collection is a revelation.\" - \u003cstrong\u003eBradford Morrow\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"The brilliant diversity of visions and sensibilities represented in Nothing Sacred not only makes this collection entertainingly unpredictable but speaks to some of the deepest questions currently ripping our society apart, including the true meaning of diversity.\" - \u003cstrong\u003eRebecca Newberger Goldstein\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003cem\u003eNOTHING SACRED: Outspoken Voices in Contemporary Fiction\u003c\/em\u003e is the first anthology from Heresy Press, and it's loaded with quality short stories from writers who come from various backgrounds. Each has their own voice and style that is worth paying attention to, no matter how uncomfortable their words may make the reader feel. Readers who only read the publisher's mission statement could be forgiven for thinking this might be a collection of war-on-woke tales, or deliberately provocative prose whose only aim is to kick a hornet's nest. This is not the case at all. Though a number of the tales are indeed provocative and hard-hitting in their style and subject matter, each has an honesty at its core, a human truth that is recognizable. For the most part, the writing is more poetic than polemic. \u003cem\u003eNOTHING SACRED: Outspoken Voices in Contemporary Fiction\u003c\/em\u003e is a finely edited, well-designed anthology of contemporary fiction. A bright start for a bold, small press.\" - \u003cem\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eIndieReader\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Heresy Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47323046248765,"sku":"9798988717300","price":19.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0477\/8731\/1254\/files\/9798988717300ita.jpg?v=1699287813"},{"product_id":"deadpan-a-novel","title":"Deadpan: A Novel","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eDeadpan\u003c\/em\u003e follows the misadventures of a vaguely antisemitic West Virginia Buick dealer who wakes up one day transformed into the world's most popular Jewish comedian. Steeped in magical realism, the narrative confronts the pivotal issues of our day: identity, intolerance, tribalism and the redemptive force of humor.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe story is set during the world-wide oil crises of the 1970s, alternating among locations in West Virginia, Las Vegas, Washington, Tehran, and Sinai, and featuring characters as diverse as Sarah Palin, Mel Brooks, and the Shah of Iran. This phantasmagorical tour-de-force not only constitutes a satirical takedown of antisemitism (and bigotry in general), it is also a dazzling display of human dignity, resilience, and humor.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRichard Walter\u003c\/strong\u003e is an author of best-selling fiction and nonfiction, celebrated storytelling educator, screenwriter, script consultant, lecturer, and retired professor who led the screenwriting program in the film school at UCLA for several decades.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"In this smart satire about bigotry and intolerance, Walter uses magical realism and comedy to reinforce his satirical look at societal problems…. This is an intriguing novel that will have readers in stitches.\" - \u003cstrong\u003eKat Kennedy\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"In Richard Walter's humorous novel \u003cem\u003eDeadpan\u003c\/em\u003e, a small-town car salesman blinks and opens his eyes to find himself living as one of America's most beloved comedians…. The charm and playfulness of the writing has a dual impact. On the one hand, it matches the fun and genuine pleasure of reading an already amusing story. The prose reflects the chaos and evenhanded nonsense of an unpredictable world in a masterful, seamless way. On the other hand, the book takes on some of the most serious of subjects—antisemitism and hate speech…. The book is as delightful for its wordplay as it is for its imaginative plot.\" - \u003cstrong\u003eBen Linder\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Amid a resurgence in global antisemitism and furious identity politics, the nightly scenes of angry mobs and all the grim commentary, we needed a comedic break. \u003cem\u003eDeadpan\u003c\/em\u003e provides a humorous but serious story of an antisemite turned Jewish comedian, reminding us that the most potent--and underused--weapon against bigotry and hate is farce and laughter.\" - \u003cstrong\u003eDavid Bernstein\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"The manic, comic energy of Richard Walter's \u003cem\u003eDeadpan\u003c\/em\u003e is so engaging that you may fail to see the serious intent percolating beneath. An ingenious fable of foibles and fallacies across the multiverse.\" - \u003cstrong\u003eRebecca Goldstein\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"They say satire is what closes on Saturday night. If Richard Walter's \u003cem\u003eDeadpan\u003c\/em\u003e were adapted for the stage, in a production that faithfully preserved its sardonic edge, seriocomic sensibility, metaphysical hijinks, and madly inventive plot twists, it would run till the end of the century.\" - \u003cstrong\u003eJames Morrow\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Heresy Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47834391314749,"sku":"9798988717317","price":16.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0477\/8731\/1254\/files\/9798988717317ita.jpg?v=1707167302"},{"product_id":"the-hermit-a-novel","title":"The Hermit: A Novel","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Hermit\u003c\/em\u003e explores the world of high-stakes investment banking with a sharp eye for the existential ramifications of this calling. The plot follows the daily routine of Andy Sylvain, a 50-year-old Manhattan bond trader who grows disenchanted with his daily hustle and starts to contemplate a clean break. He's a Master of the Universe whose thoughts and inner rationales betray a lost and confused man who cannot even describe what ails him, much less outline a cure for his malaise. Written in a breezy style, the novel's levity is deceptive: underneath sparkling descriptions of conspicuous consumption, glitzy parties, and the intricacies of trading-floor battles, the reader will find layered meditations on the poignant conflict between the allure of a rational, technocratic world and the longing for a transcendent order of things.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eKaterina Grishakova\u003c\/strong\u003e is a writer living on the East Coast. She came to the US from Moscow in 1996 and spent more than a decade working on Wall Street before leaving the financial industry to devote herself to fiction writing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"This is an extraordinary book, rich in observation and keenly attuned to the inner world of its spiritually impoverished protagonist. The mosaic-like accumulation of physical detail—much attention is paid to food, houses, shoes, and clothes—and the author's deep understanding of and affection for her wryly comic but wholly credible cast of eccentrics cohere over time into a portrait of a troubled psyche that doubles as an indictment of a troubled nation, one consumed with technology and profits, plagued by demagogues and charlatans, and driving at full speed towards something dark. The final fifty pages—an extended sequence that is at once ominous, dream-like, and achingly sad—is some of the finest writing of the year, calling to mind the films of Martin McDonagh and the Coen Brothers. At once cerebral and melancholy, nimbly balancing metaphysics and the mundane, this is a book to be savored. It is an impressive achievement.\" - \u003cstrong\u003eBoze Harrington\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A Tom Wolfe for the Instagram age! Katerina Grishakova writes with the assurance of a seasoned novelist even as her pages sing out with the exuberance of a newcomer. \u003cem\u003eThe Hermit\u003c\/em\u003e is a stylish, sophisticated story of how internal turmoil can ravage the soul even as external success can nourish the ego. Ruthless, funny, and dazzlingly sharp-eyed on the details, Grishakova is a thrilling new voice.\" - \u003cstrong\u003eMeghan Daum\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Heresy Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47910804324669,"sku":"9798988717324","price":17.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0477\/8731\/1254\/files\/9798988717324ita.jpg?v=1708635195"},{"product_id":"animal-notes-from-a-labyrinth","title":"Animal: Notes from a Labyrinth","description":"\u003cp\u003eAt times exuberant and at other times dark and haunting, Fishbone's stories delve into the twilight zone of New York's seedy bars and cocaine dens; they reveal the troubled soul of a German expressionist painter; they describe a latter-day \"hunger artist\" exorcising his own demons; they let us participate in a Venezuelan bacchanal; they explore the tangled lives of sex workers at the margins of society; and they link our contemporary political, social, and personal fixations with the desires and hang-ups of Romans like Catullus and Horace. A work both outrageous and wise, \u003cem\u003eAnimal\u003c\/em\u003e relentlessly probes the human condition in all its glorious and wretched complexity.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAlan Fishbone\u003c\/strong\u003e has had a varied career as a writer, professor of Classics, martial arts instructor, bartender, construction worker, and sail boat captain. He's still looking. In the meantime, when not offshore, he lives and works in New York City.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Part novel, part essay, part travelogue of trips to Europe, New York, and South America, the book is also a letter addressed to Fishbone's lover, referred to as 'you.' The writer looks into his own soul with brutal, crude honesty and asks the same of 'you.' Toggling between erudition and sexual fetishes and violence, the narrative is hard to stomach, beautiful, forgiving, and tender in equal measure, much the same way as looking in a mirror is liable to feel. Fishbone's work is a courageous, curious, and experimental example for 'you' to follow.\" - \u003cstrong\u003eMari Carlson\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Boldly experimental in form, yet with enough narrative drive to hold the reader's attention, \u003cem\u003eANIMAL: Notes from a Labyrinth\u003c\/em\u003e is a refreshingly challenging read. Author Alan Fishbone's meta-textual, frequently scatological novella will linger long in the memory of those bold enough to enter its labyrinth.\" - \u003cstrong\u003eAnonymous\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Heresy Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48023575658813,"sku":"9798988717348","price":12.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0477\/8731\/1254\/files\/9798988717348ita.jpg?v=1710191017"},{"product_id":"unsettled-states-a-novel","title":"Unsettled States: A Novel","description":"\u003cp\u003eTom Casey's unconventional exploration of voyeurism, infidelity, murder, and spiritual corruption is shot through with flashes of social commentary and humor. When a small Connecticut coastal town is shaken by a set of seemingly random tragedies, a gripping investigation of facts and fabrications ensues. The cast of characters includes a troubled Peeping Tom, an unconventional psychotherapist, an atheistic detective, and a dapper priest—all of them drawn into the vortex of suspicion, guilt, subterfuge, and expiation. In this story, the human longing for beauty and pleasure overshoots its goal, with startling consequences. Lavish descriptions of American life and keen intellectual debates add texture to elevate this story to a literary feast for the heart and mind.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTom Casey\u003c\/strong\u003e spent decades traversing the world as a professional airline pilot. 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