Ioannis Turns to Fiction

Another local author deserving a cheer is Ioannis Gatsiounis with his collection of short stories entitled Velvet & Cinder Blocks. (Thank you ZI Publications for sending me a copy!) Here's the blurb :

Ioannis Gatsiounis’s debut collection of short stories brilliantly captures the spirit of the individual who struggles to define himself in a world where the idea of identity is both concrete and perpetually fleeting, a world where loyalties, friendships and family ties can alter in an instant. A young painter follows a false prophet deep into a desert. A pious rape victim struggles to see past her faith in the aftermath of a tsunami. A Chinese-American’s Chineseness is put to the test in multi-racial Malaysia. A young Malay caretaker and his lone guest at a remote guest house struggle to find direction and compassion in an era of stark civilisational divides.

With these ten beautifully imagined and decadently engrossing stories, Gatsiounis offers us a timely, penetrating meditation on intimacy, alienation and triumph in the post 9/11 world.

(Click covers up to size to read.)

Ioannis' last book was, of course, Beyond the Veneer and some of you will have caught him reading from it at Readings@Seksan last year. (Susan Loone has a very good review of the book here.)

You can find his short story, Fathers, at QLRS.