VERZET – serie

This collection of five subtly wrought stories from Amatmoekrim brings her short fiction into the English language for the first time. Ranging from the speculative ‘Jacques d’Or’ to the radical ‘De Radicaal’, this collection is a journey through Amatmoekrim’s pre-occupation with what kind of world we are creating. Her often cheerful and entertaining writing is threaded with threatening undertones, creating a haunting effect on the reader.

Featuring two brand new short stories, this chapbook is Heerma van Voss’ first translation into English. In his typical style, these stories feature compelling, well-wrought characters that suck the reader into their simultaneously hilarious and heart-breaking lives. Once again in these selections from his Dutch short story collection De derde persoon, Heerma van Voss has produced unputdownable fiction.

Returning to her archetypally ‘fresh and clear’ (Faithful) nonfiction, Mountain is a moving and memorable autobiographical account of a young woman making a trip to the mountains she visited so often as a child. Now grown and with her partner, past and present collide to create an impressive consideration of love and childhood, nostalgia and hope. Never before published in any language, this will also be Hofstede’s English language debut.

Taken from his highly successful collection, these two stories take unconventional positions towards short story archetypes. The Tourist Butcher is an unflinching tale about a serial killer who prepares his victims for a culinary dish, while Memories in Aluminium Foil follows the nightmares and existential crisis of a psychology student who receives a slice of human brain in aluminium foil as a gift from his biologist roommate.In the original Dutch collection, Ouariachi stated that his goal was to ‘bring the short story back to the campfire’, allowing his stories to hold up a mirror to the reader, rather than telling them what to achieve. These two stories, appearing in English for the first time, demonstrate his success: he has created a pair of dark, horrifying underworlds for the reader’s mind to get lost in, whilst maintaining a language that is light and graceful.

Originally published in Dutch in 2017, this essay is a critique on the intellectual hold of destructive, non-sustainable capitalism on Western thought. It challenges the way that Soviet and Chinese totalitarianism has been used to discredit the idealism of 19th century communism.Reaching out from the intellectual and historical legacy of Karl Marx and Rosa Luxemburg, Peek investigates what he sees as the inevitable failure of capitalism, and argues for a fairer redistribution of knowledge, power and income.

Taken from the author’s Dutch short story collection Nederzettigen, this trio of stories is follows various individuals trying to build an existence, who need to feel at home somewhere. Each character is displaced in a different way but, wherever they come from, all the characters have a conflicting longing for change and stability. In crystal clear language, Van Hassel tells three tales about restless times in a fragmented society.

Throughout these stories, Maartje Wortel plays an ingenious game with her readers. Small events have major consequences, while the major events fade into the background. Her stories are alienating and completely logical at the same time, chaotic and orderly, funny and loud – all written in her characteristic idiosyncratic prose.