The Fahrenheit Twins and Other Stories


Book Description

Deft and lyrical, this paperback edition of Michel Faber's collection of stories is his first since his auspicious debut, Some Rain Must Fall. It has sealed his reputation as one of Britain's most daring and original authors. Acclaimed for his pitch-perfect prose and brilliant characterisation, Faber is also celebrated for his mastery of contrasting styles. From achingly sad lost lives, through moments of exquisitely distilled happiness, to biblical innocence and savagery, Faber's characters are redeemed, abandoned, beloved and laid bare.




The Fahrenheit Twins


Book Description

Deft and lyrical, fearless and human, The Fahrenheit Twins sealed Faber's reputation as one of Britain's most arresting and important authors. Renowned for his pitch-perfect prose and brilliant characterisation, Faber is also celebrated for his mastery of wildly different styles. Within these seventeen stories he levels his gaze at humanity in all its despair, joy and mundanity. From the achingly sad lost lives of 'The Safehouse' through moments of exquisitely distilled happiness in 'Vanilla-Bright Like Eminem' to the biblical innocence and savagery of 'The Fahrenheit Twins', we are redeemed, abandoned, beloved and laid bare but we are always recognisable. Michel Faber has written several books, including the highly acclaimed The Crimson Petal and the White, The Fahrenheit Twins and the novellas The Hundred and Ninety-Nine Steps and The Courage Consort. The Apple, based on characters in The Crimson Petal and the White, was published in 2006. He has also won several short-story awards, including the Neil Gunn, Ian St James and Macallan. He was born in Holland, brought up in Australia and now lives in the Scottish Highlands. textpublishing.com.au 'Some are splendid fables, a couple border on the silly, while a few are truly poignant and complete. However, all are worth reading for the dizzying balancing act of a compulsively satirical, yet resolutely humanitarian voice.' Courier Mail 'Whether you are new to his work or an established fan, The Fahrenheit Twins is a delight.' Australian Bookseller & Publisher 'Faber's extraordinary imagination can be as dark as the deepest dungeon and as light as a wisp of gossamer, and he gives it full rein. Each of the stories is as unlike the others as possible, so every time you start one you have no idea what to expect - except you know you're in for a total treat.' Good Reading 'Were you to lock Paul Auster, Roald Dahl and Ian McEwan in a room together, the result might well resemble this collection of short stories by Michel Faber.' Sydney Morning Herald 'By turns crepuscular, buoyant, delicate, wry, horrific, otherworldly, this worldly and organ-rupturingly funny collection is a vitamin-boost for the British short-story.' David Mitchell, Guardian 'Such is the state of affairs in Faberville; anything is possible. And such is the other thing about these stories - their ability to get to you and stay with you.' The Times 'Dazzling...Faber is defiantly and inventively unafraid of love; he's optimistic and alive with possibilities.' Observer




Listen


Book Description

"I'm not here to change your mind about Dusty Springfield or Shostakovich or Tupac Shakur or synthpop. I'm here to change your mind about your mind." There are countless books on music with much analysis given to musicians, bands, eras and/or genres. But rarely does a book delve into what's going on inside us when we listen. Michel Faber explores two big questions: how do we listen to music and why do we listen to music? To answer these questions, he considers a range of factors, which includes age, illness, the notion of "cool," commerce, the dichotomy between "good" and "bad" taste and much more. From the award-winning author of The Crimson Petal and the White and Under the Skin, this idiosyncratic and philosophical book reflects Michel Faber's lifelong obsession with music of all kinds. Listen will change your relationship with the heard world.




You Can Still Make A Killing


Book Description

He wants me to fuck about with paper clips in some office with a smile on my face, fuck him . . . but there's just one thing I've got to take care of first. I've got to do something to make this right. Four years on from the collapse of the Lehman Brothers and still we find ourselves in crisis. It's time to work out what's wrong. It's time to look at the heart of the system. You Can Still Make A Killing is the story of the normal men and women who fill the City's institutions, of a world radically altered when right became wrong, and of the private worlds that fall apart when there are no alternatives in sight. This production reunites director Matthew Dunster with playwright Nicholas Pierpan, following their collaboration in 2010 on Pierpan's play The Maddening Rain (Old Red Lion and Soho Theatre). The cast includes Alecky Blythe (writer of London Road), which marks her much-anticipated return to acting, and Kellie Bright (Love and Money, Royal Exchange and Young Vic). It will run at the Southwark Playhouse in its main house (which holds 150 seats) from 10 October until 3 November 2012. A German production will open at Theatre Ulm in April, 2013.




The Courage Consort


Book Description

Three novellas filled with “gallows humor and a sense of real peril,” by the acclaimed author of The Book of Strange New Things (The New York Times). The bestselling author of The Crimson Petal and the White “draws his characters with assured comic efficiency” (The Guardian), using “evocative language” to offer up “intriguing glimpses of unfamiliar worlds” (Los Angeles Times), in these acclaimed novellas. In “The Courage Consort,” an a cappella vocal ensemble is sequestered in a Belgian château to rehearse a monstrously complicated new piece, but competing artistic temperaments and sexual needs create as much discordance as the avant-garde music. In “The Hundred and Ninety-Nine Steps,” a lonely woman joins an archaeological dig at Whitby Abbey and unearths a mystery involving a long-hidden murder. And in “The Fahrenheit Twins,” strange children, identical in all but gender, are left alone at the icy zenith of the world by their anthropologist parents to create their own ritual civilization. From a wildly inventive author whose novel The Book of Strange New Things was named one of 2014’s best reads by everyone from the New Yorker to io9, The Courage Consort is an eclectic collection of well-told tales, in which Michel Faber “marches on, establishing himself as one of the most versatile fiction writers working today” (Kirkus Reviews). “Readers will again be immersed in the intense worlds he creates.” —Publishers Weekly




The Fire Gospel


Book Description

From the bestselling author of The Crimson Petal and the White, “a satire of the modern entertainment industry . . . hilariously entertaining” (The Sunday Telegraph). Michel Faber’s The Fire Gospel is a wickedly funny, acid-tongued, media-savvy picaresque that delves into our sensationalist culture. Theo Griepenkerl, a Canadian linguistics scholar, is sent to Iraq in search of artifacts that have survived the destruction and looting of the war. While visiting a museum in Mosul, he finds nine papyrus scrolls tucked in the belly of a bas-relief sculpture: they have been perfectly preserved for more than two thousand years. After smuggling them out of Iraq and translating them from Aramaic, Theo realizes the extent of his career-making find, for he is in possession of the Fifth Gospel, and it offers a shocking and incomparable eyewitness account of Christ’s crucifixion and last days on Earth. A hugely entertaining, and by turns shocking story, The Fire Gospel is a smart, stylish, and suspenseful novel. “Most insightful when describing fatuous superficiality . . . The Fire Gospel coasts cleverly and blithely.”—The New York Times “The satire is so entertaining, the pace so sharp, the writing so witty . . . The Fire Gospel can be read easily in one sitting. It’s effortless to consume, but with plenty of bite.”—The Observer “A fun and tender retelling of the Prometheus myth . . . there’s a tenderness about humankind and our inarticulate, profound need to believe that shines through Faber’s tale.”—The Plain Dealer “Faber writes with humor, intelligence, and a keen eye for our modern culture. Readers will laugh at the book and maybe a little at themselves.”—Booklist




Globalgothic


Book Description

‘The dead travel fast and, in our contemporary globalised world, so too does the gothic.’ Examining how gothic has been globalised and globalisation made gothic, this collection of essays explores an emerging globalgothic that is simultaneously a continuation of the western tradition and a wholesale transformation of that tradition which expands the horizons of the gothic in diverse new and exciting ways. Globalgothic contains essays from some of the leading scholars in gothic studies as well as offering insights from new scholars in the field. The contributors consider a wide range of different media, including literary texts, film, dance, music, cyberculture, computer games, and graphic novels. This book will be essential reading for all students and academics interested in the gothic, in international literature, cinema, and cyberspace.




Once Upon a Time in Facilities Management


Book Description

What would the world of work look like if interpreted through the lens of the fairytale? To answer this question Once Upon a Time in Facilities Management explores storied spaces and metaphorical archetypes in the study of business, management, and organization. At its core, the authors offer a diagnostic approach for the study of work organization that links management theory, storytelling, and the business imaginary. An important empirical focus is also included that explores a business service rarely studied in the management literature: Facilities Management (FM), a 'secondary service' of non-core and increasingly outsourced organizational functions. An in-depth appreciation of FM is provided that assesses the people, practices, and processes of the service in a study that also highlights the characteristic liminality of the sector's professional activities. Emphasis is placed on illuminating the storytelling nature of the service, using primarily the genre of fairytales to identify representational archetypes (including queen, shadow, sage, trickster, adventurer, and eternal child) within FM's storied space. In the process, three central characters (essentially modes of FM delivery) are identified - the professional consultant, the external service provider, and the in-house function - with these forming the structural basis of fairytales explaining the culture and symbolism of FM as a business service. The authors conclude by extrapolating findings from the study to inform a discussion of the contributions of folkloric analysis to organization theory explicitly and our understanding of business and management practice more widely.




God Bless the Child


Book Description

When he was small and his parents told him if he was good he would get a sweet, the boy knew it was not true. Getting the sweet had nothing to do with being good. 'Badger Do Best' has landed, bringing with it a new world of rules and regulations. But the kids in the classroom are fighting back. Tired of being guinea pigs in yet another government scheme, can the class of 4N bring down the education regime set to pacify them? After years working in the classroom, Molly Davies imagines a mutiny of eight-year-olds in her play commissioned by the Royal Court. God Bless the Child received its world premiere in the Upstairs space on 12 November 2014, directed by Royal Court Artistic Director Vicky Featherstone.




A Dictionary of Writers and their Works


Book Description

Over 3,200 entries An essential guide to authors and their works that focuses on the general canon of British literature from the fifteenth century to the present. There is also some coverage of non-fiction such as biographies, memoirs, and science, as well as inclusion of major American and Commonwealth writers. This online-exclusive new edition adds 60,000 new words, including over 50 new entries dealing with authors who have risen to prominence in the last five years, as well as fully updating the entries that currently exist. Each entry provides details of a writer's nationality and birth/death dates, followed by a listing of their titles arranged chronologically by date of publication.