unnamed pressspring 2015

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Two down on their luck black-marketeers, Dagr and Kinza, have inherited a very important prisoner: the former star torturer of Saddam Hussein’s recently collapsed regime, Captain Hamid, who promises them untold riches if they smuggle him to Mosul. With the heat on, they enlist Private Hoffman—their partner in crime and a totally corrupt U.S. Marine—to help them escape the authorities and get to safety.

But getting out of Baghdad is no easy task. The city is crawling with traps and alive with 5000 years of history. Soon they are embroiled in the search for a serial killer and the mysteries of an ancient watch that doesn’t tell time. Hounded by religious fanatics, crazed librarians, alchemists, special elements of the former Iraqi secret service, not to mention the United States army, the odd foursome must survive long enough to discover the truth. And in this place where life is constantly under siege the truth may be, quite simply, the secret to eternal life.

“Saad Z. Hossain’s Escape From Baghdad! may be the hippest, weirdest, most creative and visionary book yet to emerge from the full-on debacle that was W’s still-simmering Iraq war. Hossain’s unique blend of satire, mythology and speculative fiction makes Escape a hold-onto-your-hat tilt-a-whirl joy to read.” — Jerry Stahl (Permanent Midnight)

Saad Z. Hossain writes in a niche genre of science fiction and black

comedy with an action-adventure twist. He has written numerous

articles and short stories for The Daily Star, New Age, and the Dhaka Tribune, the top English daily newspapers in Bangladesh. He lives in

Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Michael was only 15 when a mysterious accident changed his life forever. Left for dead, he was rebuilt out of paper by his father. Ten years have passed and Michael is now an adult, still trapped in the paper version of his teenage body. To escape the stagnant life of his inland home, he runs away to the City by the Sea, which holds the promise of art, adventure, and the possibility of finally fitting in. Instead, Michael discovers the city is tearing at the seams. With rumors swirling that a militarized north will annex the city, newcomer Michael has more to worry about than the unpredictable seaside weather.

After being rescued from a rainstorm by Maiko, an unemployed fur model, and falling into a life of stability and anonymity, Michael’s cruel high school sweetheart Mischa suddenly reappears. Soon, he is torn between his friendship to Maiko and Mischa’s decadent underground art world. But when he finds himself drawn to the city’s most notorious artist, David Doppelmann, Michael begins another dangerous transformation, one that will either lead to discovering his true self, or ignite the city toward revolution and destroy him and everyone he cares about.

Part fable, part surrealistic journey, Gallagher Lawson’s impressive debut is a gripping narrative about the nature of artistic identity and its tenuous relationship to the greater good. By creating an alternate reality that nevertheless mirrors our own troubled world order, Lawson has created a visionary, allegorical novel that appeals to a broad spectrum of readers.

Gallagher Lawson has worked as a travel writer and technical writer,

and plays classical piano. He lives in Los Angeles with his husband

Tim Walker and their two cats, Kafka and Figgie.

A banished professor protests the terms of his restraining order by covertly frying bacon in hidden corners. A boss is so engrossed in romance novels she appears oblivious to everything else, including the once-in-a-century flood threatening the town. A husband is so focused on proving his qualifications for fatherhood, he decides to temporarily adopt a foreign exchange student. Welcome to the life of Nina Lanning, the lone administrator at the prestigious School of Visual Arts. 

Her colleagues are pioneers of contemporary art movements, inspirational speakers, and the source of constant headaches as they rail against the authority that Nina represents. When news of a flood suddenly threatens to destroy the SVA, and the priceless Jackson Pollock trapped inside it, Nina and her ragtag band of SVA faculty undertake to save the early work of the splatter master (and perhaps a lot more).

Propelled by disasters both natural and personal, Nina must confront her colleagues, her husband, and most importantly, herself. Cate Dicharry’s debut novel is a painfully hysterical examination of what is truly worth saving, while mastering the art of letting go. “Dicharry’s comic timing is unimpeachable and though her characters are idiosyncratic and quirky, they are deeply dimensional and exceptionally real. A richly complicated and rewarding novel.” — Jill Alexander Essbaum (Hausfrau).

Cate Dicharry is a graduate of UC Riverside’s Palm Desert MFA

program and lives in Iowa City with her husband and two small

sons. The Fine Art of Fucking Up is her first novel. 

Lima, 1970: A tremendous earthquake has just struck the Peruvian capital, and mayhem reigns throughout the city. Tensions are high, with a population both reeling from the disaster and mesmerized by the results of World Cup soccer matches being broadcast from Mexico. Enter Detective Simon Weiss, tasked with solving two shocking and apparently unrelated murders: the crucifying and beheading of a Japanese man in a pool hall and an apparent murder-by-hanging of an elderly Jewish man.

While painting a vivid snapshot of Latin American life in the 1970s, Remember the Scorpion tracks the wreckage of the Second World War—fought in the far-flung theaters of Europe and the Pacific—and reconstructs it in the conflicted psyche of a South American detective.

Best known for his incisive depictions of Jewish-Peruvian life, Isaac Goldemberg is one of Peru’s most celebrated writers. His 1976 novel The Fragmented Life of Don Jacobo Lerner was described by the New York Times Book Review as “a moving exploration of the human condition” and named by a panel of international scholars as one of the 100 greatest Jewish books of the last 150 years.

Born in Peru, in 1945, Isaac Goldemberg is a renowned poet,

playwright, and fiction writer. He has lived in New York since 1964

and is the Distinguished Professor of Humanities at Eugenio María de

Hostos Community College of the City University of New York, where

he is also the Director of the Latin American Writers Institute and the

Editor of Hostos Review, an international journal of culture.

Escape from Baghdad!

The Paper Man

The Fine Art of Fucking Up

Remember the Scorpion

by Saad Z. Hossain

by Gallagher Lawson

by Cate Dicharry

by Isaac Goldembergtranslated from the Spanish by Jonathan Tittler

PaperbackFiction | $16.00978-1-939419-24-8Pub Date: March 17, 2015

PaperbackFiction | $16.00978-1-939419-22-4Pub Date: May 12, 2015

PaperbackFiction | $16.00978-1-939419-25-5Pub date: April 14, 2015

PaperbackFiction | $16.00978-1-939419-19-4Pub date: June 9, 2015

Spring 2015

www.unnamedpress.com

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The Unnamed Press is a publisher of literature from around the world and based in Los Angeles, CA. We are distributed by Publishers Group West.

Other recent titles available from the Unnamed Press:Nigerians in Spaceby Deji OlukotunISBN: 9781939419019Paperback $16.99 “Fast-paced, well-written and packed with insight and humor. Olukotun is a very talented storyteller.“ —Charles Yu, National Book

Award 5-Under-35 winner and author of How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe

Good Night, Mr. Kissingerby K. Anis AhmedISBN: 9781939419040Paperback $16.00 “Vividly realized and intricately observed, Good Night, Mr. Kissinger is a poignant portrait of a city and the characters that live

in the wake of great change.” —Tahmima Anam, author of The Good Muslim

Walker on Waterby Kristiina EhinISBN: 9781939419071Paperback $16.00 “Sharp, jarring, and darkly funny, the stories in Walker on Water move seamlessly and defiantly between the real and the surreal, reinventing folklore, redefining

fiction, and daringly reexamining relationships.” —Susan Steinberg, author of Spectacle