{"product_id":"2940151980548","title":"Telling Stories","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cu\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWINNER OF THE REED \/ NORTH \u0026amp; SOUTH FICTION AWARD\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/u\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eI weave fictions round my life. Alternate realities where I am the master of every situation ... I know my alter-ego better than I know myself, or anyone else for that matter, and yet he is a mirage, not-even-ghost, the fiction of a fiction.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSteven Spalding is a mild-mannered, overweight civil servant with a humdrum, solitary life. But he has a secret: a rude, wise-cracking, anarchic alter-ego named Eric Dombey.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBuried in hilarious tales of comic genius, in a variety of formats ranging from diary entries to movie scripts, a truer picture of the real Steven begins to emerge, and all is not as it seems. As events in his life accelerate and slip out of control, the boundaries between the real and the unreal begin to blur.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this cleverly crafted novel, Geoff Palmer makes us reconsider the whole concept of fiction and reality, while providing keen yet sympathetic insights into the complexities of the human condition.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHilarious, heart-breaking and quietly disturbing.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eGeoff Palmer’s debut novel delighted and riveted both readers and critics, winning the prestigious Reed \/ North \u0026amp; South Award. If you enjoy the comic genius of A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole or the anarchic wit and biting satire of A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz, you will love Telling Stories.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBuy it now and see why the critics raved!\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cu\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePraise for Telling Stories\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/u\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A splendid and entertaining book. It's full of great gags and descriptions, and handles the difficult structure with a bubbly, tumbling assurance.” - Kevin Ireland, \u003cem\u003eQuote Unquote\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“When alter-ego Eric lets loose it is laugh-a-minute stuff. Concise, witty and very funny.” - Miles Moodie, \u003cem\u003eWaikato Times\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Very entertaining. A clever and unpredictable novel.” - Owen Marshall\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Stiletto-sharp. An accomplished debut.” - Graeme Lay, \u003cem\u003eNorth \u0026amp; South\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Deceptively casual, casually deceitful. Satirical, eccentric, compassionate, \u003cem\u003eTelling Stories\u003c\/em\u003e is a delight. It'll stand a second reading to get the full complexity, the cross-referencing and allusions, the elegant recklessness.” - Ronda Cooper, \u003cem\u003eMetro\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA rambunctious, punning read.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Carefully constructed, consistently comical.” - Bede Scott, \u003cem\u003eSunday Star Times\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Cunningly plotted. Fiendishly twisted.” - David Eggleton, \u003cem\u003eNew Zealand L\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cem\u003eistener\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Witty, irreverent, satirical, outrageous.” - Ian Dixon, \u003cem\u003eChristchurch Press\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“I found Geoff Palmer an exciting new voice in our literature and hope he has more stories to tell of equal challenge to the imagination.” - Howard Warner, \u003cem\u003eNew Zealand Books\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Geoff Palmer ... plays realism off against post-modernism, as inept Steven Spalding is depicted transforming his increasingly dangerous misadventures into stories concerning the confident Eric Dombey, with the two finally becoming inextricably crossed, producing a book that can be read as both an implicit attack on post-modern moral relativism and a post-modern undermining of narrative certainty.” - Terry Sturm, \u003cem\u003eThe Oxford History of New Zealand Literature\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cu\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCategories for Tellling Stories\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/u\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e- Fiction classics\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e- Literature \u0026amp; Fiction\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e- Humour \u0026amp; Satire\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e- Literary Humour\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e- Humour Fiction\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e- World Literature, New Zealand\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e- Contemporary Fiction\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e- Humour satire funny books\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e- Coming of age\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e- Family life\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Geoff Palmer","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47102769594608,"sku":"2940151980548","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940151980548_p0.jpg?v=1764017203","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940151980548","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}