Anhedonia by Patrick Chapman

‘A consistently interesting writer’ – Dermot Bolger

Leaving his lover, a man driving into the desert encounters a woman walking barefoot towards him on the Interstate. Is she fleeing an accident, or something worse? A salaryman, recalling his lost love, finds himself alone in the icy winter. An artist spots an unusual stain on his ceiling, coming from the apartment upstairs. Does he dare investigate? The elegant novella ‘Anhedonia’ traces the key moments of a relationship from its first hilarious meeting to its wistful final fading – seen through the eyes of a character incapable of feeling joy.

These nine stories of love and its opposite, blend darkness, humor and a refreshing emotional openness. Briskly written and told with a winning humanity, Anhedonia is a fine collection from one of Ireland’s most exciting writers.

Patrick Chapman was born in 1968 in Ireland. His books include The Wow Signal (stories, 2007), The Negative Cutter (novellas, 2014), and So Long, Napoleon Solo (novel, 2017). His poetry collections are Jazztown (1991), The New Pornography (1996), Breaking Hearts and Traffic Lights (2007), A Shopping Mall on Mars (2008), The Darwin Vampires (2010), A Promiscuity of Spines: New & Selected Poems (2012), Slow Clocks of Decay (2016) and Open Season on the Moon (2019). He has written audio dramas for Doctor Who and Dan Dare; a short film; and much television for children. For BBC Radio 4 he produced B7’s 2014 dramatisation of Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles. With Dimitra Xidous he edits an online poetry magazine, The Pickled Body.

Book Information:

· Paperback: 190 pages
· Binding: Perfect-Bound
· Publisher: BlazeVOX [books]
· ISBN: 978-1-60964-335-5