Welcome the second edition of the BTZ Substack. Thanks to everyone who signed up and hope you enjoyed the first edition. This month we have book news, a review of Grimmish from @eleventhvolume and a short story from Mathew Sini. Contributions are always open just send me an email - Beyondthezeropod@gmail.com
Book News
New books from Adam Levin - Mount Chicago from Penguin, Michale Paul Koslowsky - Scarecrow Has a Gun from Imbrefex , Adriane Howell - Hydra from Transit Lounge , Luis Goytisolo - Antagony, from New Directions they also have Dashiel Carrera’s The Dear. A debut novel I have been waiting by the mailbox for - A Bended Circuity by Robert Stickley from Corona/Samizdat Sadie Jones has Amy and Lan out from Penguin UK and one of my top reads of the year so far David Keenan’s prequel to This is Memorial Device - Industry of Magic @ Light from White Rabbit. Also Isabella Streffen has FABULAE. HOW IT BEGINS, 2022 from MA BIBLIOTHÈQUE and this book and the press looks really interesting.
Also Happy first birthday to this little podcast. Thanks to everyone who has listened, contributed and a huge thanks to all of the wonderful guests. The support for the podcast has been amazing and I know my TBR is overflowing and I hope your’s is too.
Review
Grimmish by Michael Winkler
Published by Puncher and Wattmann
H. Ashe (Owner of @eleventhvolume)
In Old English, “grim” means “fierce, cruel, savage, severe, dire and painful”. It is only fitting that the central figure of Michael Winkler’s debut novel is named Joe Grim - an Italian-American boxer who has the uncanny ability of relentlessly absorbing and deflecting pain.
Much like a boxer’s punch, Winkler’s novel is a quick, impactful blow. It is a blow that blurs and blends genre and form, expanding the boundaries of what the novel can be. What struck me during the blow was the undeniable fact that Winkler has placed himself on the Australian (and international) literary map with a brilliant debut and a refreshing voice.
What makes the novel exceptional is the unconventional way the story is told. Grimmish is self-reflexive, beginning with a review of itself by Winkler, which therein comments on the novelty inclusion of that very same review. It has touching moments of what I can only assume to be a sort of autofiction reflection on the process of writing. It feels conversational in a way that speaks to the reader directly: footnotes wander aimlessly throughout the book. Whether they decide to speak to you directly about the narrative, or whether they decide to wander off on a tangential story about one of Grim’s opponent’s matrimonial affair, they exist as a sub-narrative that propels the novel and keeps it alive and punching.
Grim strives for the unattainable ideal of lasting entire boxing matches without being knocked-out. In more ways than one, he is comparable to The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha, and I can’t help but compare his goat counterpart to Sancho Panza. Grims’ insensibility of pain, physical or otherwise - and his associated madness - is endearing, in the same way as Quixote’s relentless pursuit is.
I highly implore you to give this book a chance - it won’t disappoint.
Short Story
By Redacted
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The End