Dodo Ink – 2017 Preview – the owl on the bookshelf

As some readers of my blog will know, I was one of many people who backed independent publisher Dodo Ink via Kickstarter, to support the publication of their three launch titles in 2016. And this year, there are three new Dodo Ink titles to look forward to.

Here, Thom and Sam from Dodo Ink introduce their new, diverse trio of books for publication in 2017!

The Tryst by Monique Roffey
‘Our first title will be The Tryst, by the Costa Prize-shortlisted author
Monique Roffey. The Tryst is an erotic literary novella about a married
couple, Bill and Jane, whose relationship has grown stale. On the night of
the summer solstice they visit a London pub, where they encounter the
dazzling and mysterious Lilah, who entrances the couple with half-true,
mixed up stories about her life.
At closing time, Jane makes an impulsive decision to invite Lilah back to
their home: what follows is a catastrophic chain of events. Jane has made a
near fatal error of judgment – for Lilah is a skilled and heartless
predator, the likes of whom few stumble across in a lifetime. Isolated and
cursed, Bill and Jane are forced to fight for each other and in doing so,
transform their sexual landscape forever.’
Sam: “The Tryst is a raw, powerful and provocative read. It is a very sexy
book, but it is light years away from Fifty Shades. This is a novel which
works on many levels – it is an intelligent dissection of a relationship in
crisis, an eerie fable with hints of Angela Carter, and a thought-provoking
exploration of sexuality on a par with Anaïs Nin.”

The Tryst has already received advance praise from the likes of Booker
Prize winning author DBC Pierre and former Erotic Review editor Rowan
Pelling, whose new journal The Amorist launches soon.

UnAmerican Activities by James Miller
‘UnAmerican Activities is a novel made up of interlinked stories which sets
out to subvert and pay homage to American pop culture and genre fiction,
exploring the conspiracy theories and violence that defines the American
everyday through a series of deranged and desperate narrators.’
Sam: “This wild and wonderful novel reads like Jesus’s Son [short story
collection by Denis Johnson] reimagined by Guillermo del Toro. It is an
acerbic and hilarious – a satirical, surreal mishmash of the
interconnecting fates of vampires, porn stars and religious fanatics and a
portrait of the underbelly of American life.”
Thom: “James is a great fit for Dodo Ink: politically-engaged, with a
desire to subvert and shock, he is a writer we have long admired, and we
are excited to be working with him.”

Family of Love by Neil Griffiths
‘Last but not least, we will be publishing the epic Family of Love by Neil
Griffiths, winner of The Author’s Club First Novel Award for Betrayal in
Naples, whose second novel,Saving Caravaggio, was shortlisted for the Costa
Prize.
Family of Love is an epic novel which explores philosophical and spiritual
doubt, in the tradition of Dostoevsky. The novel features a married man,
McCullough, who suffers an existential crisis. He leaves his middle class
job and family behind to build a church on a patch of wasteland, helped by
a ragtag group of local drifters. Through McCullough, Griffiths examines
the ways in which people become bound together in love, outside the
structures of family and religion.’
Thom: “Family of Love is an intensely readable, searching novel about an
individual’s spiritual and philosophical crisis. In McCullough, Neil
Griffiths has created a character struggling to cope with the grand issues
of modern life – family, religion and his place in society. This is an epic
novel with an extremely relatable, human story at its core.”
Sam: “Family of Love is an ambitious novel which we are very proud to
publish. Neil is already an award-winning novelist and we look forward to
submitting Family of Love for all the major prizes.