Fiktion - New German platform for free literary texts (and more)

[doubleshuffle]

Just came across this interesting and ambitious project. They're planning to publish literary texts in both English and German for free. It's still early morning here and I don't have the time to paraphrase, so here is their mission statement.

They've also just published their first two books.

[Prestidigitweeze]

The English versions of the blurbs:

Rajeev Balasubramanyam
STARSTRUCK

Starstruck is a collection of ten interlinked narratives, each "starring" a celebrity to dark, surreal and often hilarious effect. Fanatical fan-boys attempt to lynch a woman digitally for daring to criticize Steve Jobs; David Beckham becomes rabidly politi[c]i[z]ed; and Freddie Mercury and Michael Jackson make appearances beyond the grave. In Starstruck, Rajeev Balasubramanyam takes a scalpel to modern society, peeling back its skin to reveal the beauty, frailty and sheer [strangeness] of our species.

Jakob Nolte
ALFF

Jakob Nolte's debut novel ALFF tells of a series of murders at the High & Low High School in Beetaville, New England. A "fencecutioner" has killed Benjamin, the head of the debate club, and sewed his corpse to a fence. The murder sets in motion a string of bizarre events in the teenagers' lives, from the founding of the band La Deutsche Vita to the establishment of the Anachronistic Youth. After a second murder, Agent Donna Jones is summoned and [becomes] flummoxed by the seemingly unsolvable case. In the style of a high-school mystery thriller, ALFF takes us on a breakneck journey through an imaginary America of the 1990s. The novel is driven by irrepressible wonder and joy at American cultural imperialism, which is at a turning point between the death of Kurt Cobain and 9/11. Like the German novelist Karl May, a fantasist of the American Old West, Jakob Nolte writes about a country without the muddling interference of personal experience. The 25-year-old takes on film, TV, literature and real life — and wins.

It's amusing that novelist Ben Marcus is one of the advisers and excellent that Ubu Web (a superb resource) is a partner.

[Dr. Drib]

Information only:

These two ebooks do not appear to be available in English editions - yet.

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

Information only:

These two ebooks do not appear to be available in English editions - yet.

Yes they are. You have to be viewing the English language book page, then the downloads are English. I just downloaded and checked both of them.

Unless you meant "not available elsewhere" which would likely be due to the authors' involvement with Fiktion.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

Yes they are. You have to be viewing the English language book page, then the downloads are English. I just downloaded and checked both of them.

Unless you meant "not available elsewhere" which would likely be due to the authors' involvement with Fiktion.

Thanks for that. I'll try again.

[Prestidigitweeze]

Dr. Drib: I downloaded the English versions as a test before bothering to quote the blurbs. I'm not inclined to read books that privilege meta-refs over style, but what's unusual here is the inclusiveness of the collaboration -- not only in terms of cultures, countries and languages, but between disciplines and levels that are often disturbingly discrete.

[Froide]

Thank you (danke schön), doubleshuffle.

FYI, the language toggle is a button in the upper righthand corner of the website, above and to the right of the format choices.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by Prestidigitweeze

Dr. Drib: I downloaded the English versions as a test before bothering to quote the blurbs. I'm not inclined to read books that privilege meta-refs over style, but what's unusual here is the inclusiveness of the collaboration -- not only in terms of cultures, countries and languages, but between disciplines and levels that are often disturbingly discrete.

Right. I should have realized that you downloaded them, but in my rush to get them I didn't notice that I had downloaded the wrong language.