My second novel, She Sang to Them She Sang, is now available direct from corona\samizdat, an innovative small press based in Slovenia, and which focuses on publishing exploratory fiction from the present as well as on re-publishing neglected but essential avant-garde novels from the past.

Small presses lose whatever slim margins they have to the likes of Amazon and Shopify, so these are being sold via PayPal by contacting Rickharsch(at)gmail(dot)com, or if you are in Canada and lack PayPal, you may simply contact me and arrange an electronic transfer and I’ll do that legwork for you. Description follows below, and more on She Sang to Them, She Sang ‘s home page!

She Sang to Them, She Sang

Katie, Jo, and Manny have got the deal of their lifetimes finally in their sights, but nowhere is it written in the Family Home Inspection Kit to triple-check the stories they tell themselves—about issues overlooked, upkeep not kept up, or damage concealed; about how more than finances flow from one generation to the next; about veiled motivations for entering into relationships of a contractual nature (be they fiduciary, informal, or solemnized); finally, about the real origins of these stories themselves, which upon closer inspection are revealed to be mere lean-tos built upon shabby foundations, and whose parlors furnish-forth tedious after-dinner speakers, who are not only the most long-winded, but also the most unreliable, of guests….

Through an innovative presentation of events (in which thoughts nested within and discoursing with other thoughts are “corralled” visually on the page), the narrative moves from one perspective to the next as each protagonist somehow manages to convince themselves of their autonomy, even as this most seemingly banal of events, the simple sale of a house, gathers to itself enough psycho-kinetic energy to threaten all who find themselves in need of shelter under its creaking joists.

Benzodiazepene-fueled elevator pitch: “Julian Barnes’ Talking It Over, but about a home sale, and if the self-justifying monologues of the 3 protagonists were labyrinthine in the nature of their mauvais foi.”

My first novel, White Mythology, which explores the obsessive career and ossified home life of psychiatrist Dr. Edward Blanchette over three stormy and transformative days, which are precipitated by a professional crisis involving a drug trial for the promising new anti-depressant, Alba, is available in Hardcover, eBook and Audiobook formats (also available in Canada at Amazon.ca and Indigo.ca.)