Showing titles in Absurdist

The excoriating stories in Mark Doten's brilliant first collection dissect the pathological narratives that shape our culture and country. Narrated by a crosscutting array of White people, Doten's stories spotlight the self-serving logic through which their characters struggle to make sense of, and take control of, the narrative of our time.

Where do we go after we die? In this story the protagonist, Oscar Whatmore, dies and finds himself transported to a rundown spiritual realm, eventually appearing before a vast court presided over by a diminutive and disagreeable Jesus clad in legal robes. Although judged worthy of admission to Heaven, Oscar finds himself in a boring and dilapidated domain, which is blighted by outdated technology. He subsequently bribes an official to gain access to Hell, which he discovers to be surprisingly pleasant and staffed by a friendly Devil who explains that the ancient punishments are obsolete.

Phineas Finch, a former police detective turned a secluded and disgruntled Private Eye, decides to settle in Wyoming with his assistant, Maggie. They've accumulated many connections throughout their short time in the Factory District. With the pair usually taking on minuscule cases, having little news coverage and impact on the trajectory of the city. They have a pretty relaxed method of fulfilling their schedule. Wyoming has its underground more present than law enforcement. Mainly, when it comes to ruling the streets.

TBC

From the first bite to the final crumb, this is the saga of that biscuit, told with the seriousness it never asked for and the depth it could never deserve. Along the way, hunger wrestles with hesitation, distractions arrive in the form of a knock at the door and phantom phone calls, and the great philosophical questions of our time are asked—such as whether regret tastes different when it is edible, and why the fridge is always worth checking at least three times.

À la fin du siècle, une figure du Décadentisme invoque un démon sans visage: l’absurde. Dans ce roman où le réel se lézarde, les certitudes vacillent, les élans et les répulsions se heurtent, et la condition humaine affleure, mise à nu. Fidèle à une esthétique anti-réaliste, la narration glisse entre clairvoyance et vertige, mêlant trouble, ironie sombre et élégance vénéneuse, pour sonder ce qui nous meut quand toute logique se défait.

The dead don’t always stay buried. And some refuse to move on. After barely surviving his brush with death, Clay Donovan is stuck between worlds—his body clings to life, but his soul refuses to let go. As he struggles to understand the new rules of the afterlife, a restless spirit begins terrorizing a college campus, seeking vengeance on those who left him behind. Darcey, ever the fiend, is ready to do what she does best: eliminate the problem. But Clay isn’t convinced death is the only way out.

The Imaginary Pot of Vodka Gold is a cyclical anti-hero narrative about desire, stability, rupture, and repetition. A man believes he has reached the bottom of his life, only to discover that "bottom" is a comforting myth—an idea sold to make endurance feel meaningful. What actually exists is pattern: motion without resolution, survival without victory, and the quiet continuation of appetite long after the story is supposed to end.

Tales from the Motherland: Book Zero is a darkly comic collection of interlinked stories about power, memory, exile, and the quiet absurdities of modern life. Set across post-Soviet cities, imagined borderlands, and bureaucratic nowhere-zones, these stories follow people who live slightly out of sync with their surroundings—men and women shaped by collapse, reinvention, and systems that no longer announce themselves with force, but with procedure, habit, and polite indifference.

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR For fans of Interior Chinatown and American War, a surreal, hilarious, and sneakily profound debut novel that casts our current climate of gun violence and environmental destruction in a surprising new mold. A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN OUR CULTURE...

*BONUS: Includes the viral essay sensation "The Crane Wife"* "An innovative work of climate fiction, a nuanced and empathic family story, and, for my money, the summer's best novel thus far." --NPR.org "The most oddly enticing novel you will read this year...Keenly satirical yet unashamedly...

NATIONAL BESTSELLER “You wouldn’t expect a comic novel about a dictionary to be a thriller too, but this one is. In fact, [it] is also a mystery, love story (two of them) and cliffhanging melodrama.” —The New York Times Book Review An award-winning novel that chronicles the charming...

“Fantastic!” —the actual Jeff Goldblum (for real) The essential companion for any fan of Jeff Goldblum, Hollywood’s most beloved and otherworldly icon. You like Jeff Goldblum. We like Jeff Goldblum. Helen McClory really likes Jeff Goldblum. So lie back, Jurassic Park-style, and prepare...

"These immersive linked stories grapple with Ukrainian history through the waning years of the USSR and birth pangs of democracy ... Reva's characters spark off the page as they confront a brutal bureaucratic past with the only tool they possess—hope."—O, The Oprah Magazine A brilliant and...

From the author of the bestselling literary sensations Convenience Store Woman and Earthlings comes a surprising and highly imaginative story set in a version of Japan where sex between married couples has vanished and all children are born by artificial insemination. Sayaka Murata has proven...

* Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize * A New Yorker Best Book of the Year * A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice * Nominated for the Women’s Prize for Fiction * “I’m in love with a grieving misfit driving around with a donkey-shaped piñata in an old van held together by...

“The daily grind got you down? Escape into this Swedish dark comedy about a scaldingly contemptuous office drone who discovers a secret room in his workplace.”—O: The Oprah Magazine The inspiration for the upcoming feature film Corner Office, starring Jon Hamm Björn is a compulsive...

Воспаление мозгов — рассказ Михаила Булгакова, посвященный всем редакторам еженедельных журналов. В произведении рассказывается о том, как ошалевший от жары и голода писатель, вынужденный срочно написать историю для одного журнала, вступил в беседу с собственными мозгами. И вот что из этого вышло.

Welcome to the Fiction on the Web audiobook series, featuring a collection of short stories with a different theme for each volume. Lovingly curated by the owner of Fiction On The Web, Charlie Fish. Come and share in the joy and power of short stories. The theme of this volume is Kafkaesque. You've probably heard of Franz Kafka even if you haven't read his books. You might even recognize his nightmarishly absurdist style. This volume explores a Kafkaesque world that's full of surprises.

Ein Roman von Franz Kafka, gesprochen von Moritz Brendel. Im Mittelpunkt steht der Bankangestellte Josef K., gegen den ein Prozess anhängig ist. Das Gericht agiert im Geheimen, und bis zu seiner Hinrichtung erfährt K. nicht einmal den Grund der Anklage. Ort der Handlung ist eine fiktive deutsche Großstadt. Die Zeit der Handlung stimmt mit ihrer Entstehungszeit überein. Dennoch, die Welt, die er erschaffen hat, scheint weniger als andere literarische Welten an Zeit und Raum gebunden, obwohl sie fest in realistischer Schilderung fundiert ist und von dort immer wieder ins scheinbar Phantastische schweift.