Lance Olsen and John Domini Talk About Cities as Fictions, Political Daymares, and Never Being at Home

Domini and Olsen covers

Lance Olsen and John Domini have followed each other’s work for years, sharing an attraction to the edges of the fictional enterprise, to experiment and risk. Olsen has many works of fiction and non-fiction, and his awards include the Guggenheim. Domini too has published widely, in all genres, and won an NEA Fellowship. Both have spent extended time abroad, Olsen in Germany, Domini in Italy. Not till now, however, did they share new titles with similar core concern— namely, a European city going through a radical change.  In Domini’s case, in his novel The Color Inside a Melon, this was contemporary Naples, over a single hectic week. Olsen’s latest, My Red Heaven, considers a June day in Berlin, in 1927. 

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Chocolate : The Heat of Our Thoughts — An Excerpt From Lance Olsen’s “My Red Heaven”

"My Red Heaven" cover

Lance Olsen’s new novel My Red Heaven follows a host of characters in Berlin over the course of one day in 1927. At times, Olsen’s prose tells of artistic breakthroughs; at others, such as the excerpt featured here, he gradually takes the reader into a more nightmarish space. In the midst of Modernism’s rise, Olsen pays homage to Modernist writing, even as he pushes onwards into haunting historical vistas. My Red Heaven will be released by Dzanc Books on January 21st.

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Vol.1 Brooklyn’s January 2020 Book Preview

January 2020 book preview

New year, new books. January offers plenty of new titles to choose from, ranging from unsettling dystopias to thought-provoking works of nonfiction to boldly experimental literary works. Some of the books we’re most excited to read this month are from old favorites of ours; others are from writers whose work we’re eager to read for the first time. Here’s a selection of some of the January books we’re looking forward to.

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