"The Platinum Raven" by Rohan Quine is a triple convulsion whereby our heroine Raven escalates herself into the Chocolate Raven and then the Platinum Raven, from London to Dubai to the tower in the hills in the desert - then back down again, forever changed. In her cubicle high in the Shard in London, a sweet-natured, raven-haired receptionist named Raven is even more rudely mistreated than usual for a Monday morning. Recovering from this, her daydreams propel her into the fantasy life of a richer and more glamorous version of herself, who lives higher up in the world's tallest skyscraper - the Burj Khalifa, in Dubai. Raven thinks of this woman as the Chocolate Raven, owing to her chocolate-coloured hair, which frames a face that's just like her own; and straightaway, Raven cannot get enough of watching this glamorous creature. The Chocolate Raven is a party girl whose lifestyle has a certain flash, albeit a certain flatness too. Standing on the vertiginous 152nd-Level terrace of the Burj Khalifa, she gazes across the desert at dusk, to the rock-slopes of the Hajar Mountains - and a mad-faced nightclub tower of shadow sprouts up, there on those slopes, from her gaze. This tower is run by a woman with a face just like the Chocolate Raven's, but with platinum-blonde instead of chocolate-coloured hair, who lives a yet more empowered and intensely-coloured life: for she is the Platinum Raven, no less. And tonight she will preside over the launch of a revolutionary new club drug called mirror mist. Between this uber-glamorous Platinum Raven and her companions Scorpio and Amber, there unfolds a sequence of events whose fusion of extraordinary beauty and violence and sensuality so bewitches the watching Chocolate Raven, that she is miserably desolate as soon as these events finish at dawn when the rising desert sun destroys that nocturnal tower on the rock-slopes. She therefore sets out on a mission to regain the voltage of the vanished building and the allure of its exotic denizens ... whereupon a stark piece of evidence of the Platinum Raven's realm is channelled through the Chocolate Raven and is pulled right back down to earth in the original daydreamer Raven herself. Rohan Quine, literary fiction, litfic, magical realism, horror, dark fantasy, cyberpunk, contemporary, scifi, gay, transgender, LGBT, visionary, imagination, imagery, spectacular, Dubai, Burj Khalifa, Palm Jumeirah, London, Shard, tower, skyscraper, desert, fairy tale, daydream, blonde, brunette, glamour, beauty, nightclub, drug
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"The Platinum Raven" by Rohan Quine is a triple convulsion whereby our heroine Raven escalates herself into the Chocolate Raven and then the Platinum Raven, from London to Dubai to the tower in the hills in the desert - then back down again, forever changed.
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RAVEN 1 A sudden white rabbit THE CHOCOLATE RAVEN 2 The most beautiful building in the world 3 Fronds A to P 4 Chocolate hair on white silk 5 The bellow on the rock-slopes THE PLATINUM RAVEN 6 Platinum hair on black silk 7 Purple and red and yellow and ... on fire 8 The mad-faced tower in the mountains 9 The squirly brown windows in the turret 10 Santa Monica Boulevard 11 In the arms of the man from the garden of love 12 The pug among the struts, in the pale blue strait-jacket 13 Black and rust and ochre over the plain 14 Slinky-smooth in the mirror mist 15 Planets hanging heavy 16 The adventures of the dead girl 17 A kiss of jagged glass 18 I see you! 19 Mirrors in the labyrinth 20 Analysis of motion through CCTV 21 The Platinum Raven's message-in-a-bottle 22 The black and red flower 23 The point of silver in the dawn 24 Catch you later! THE CHOCOLATE RAVEN 25 Electric aliveness and happiness, remembered 26 Scent of fucked-up dark devouring hunger 27 Through the Spire to the Pinnacle 28 Whisper of Scorpio 29 Flash of Amber in Scorpio 30 Two Ravens on the freeway RAVEN 31 The hair in the corridor
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"Rohan Quine is one of the most brilliant and original writers around. His 'The Imagination Thief' blended written and spoken word and visuals to create one of the most haunting and complex explorations of the dark corners of the soul you will ever read. Never one to do something simple when something more complex can build up the layers more beautifully, he is back with a collection of 4 seamlessly interwoven novellas. [...] suffice to say he is the consummate master of sentencecraft. His prose is a warming sea on which to float and luxuriate. But that is only half of the picture. He has a remarkable insight into the human psyche, and he demonstrates it by lacquering layer on layer of subtle observation and nuance. Allow yourself to slip from the slick surface of the water and you will soon find yourself tangled in a very deep and disturbing world, but the dangers that lurk beneath the surface are so enticing, so intoxicating it is impossible to resist their call." "It would be remiss of me not to take this opportunity to bring people's attention to a truly remarkable book. Rohan Quine writes right at the boundary between literary fiction and experimentalism, and his new collection of four novellas, `The Platinum Raven and other novellas', is a genuine masterpiece. This guy is as good as [Sergio] De La Pava, and deserves to be the next self-published literary author to cross over into mainstream consciousness" (in "SPR"). "Rohan is one of the most original voices in the literary world today - and one of the most brilliant." "four stunning new novellas by one of the most exciting literary writers in the UK." - Dan Holloway, novelist, poet and "Guardian" blogger "Rohan Quine is a master of words, his world is also accessible, and it's a place you definitely need to visit. With echoes of Jennifer Egan's `Goon Squad', Quine captures all that is beautiful, but he doesn't shy away from all that is ugly. What links the four novellas together is that his characters are all searching for that something beyond the everyday, beyond the ordinary, and Quine is a god, having them dole out kindness and justice. In his world, everything that is commonplace would be annihilated. This is the kind of read you have to give yourself up to. [...] When you emerge on the other side with a greater understanding of what it means to be `that animal called human', then that will be the time to stop and ask, `What just happened?'" "Rohan Quine is a poet who happens to write novellas/novels. Incredible use of language." - Jane Davis, novelist "Novelist Rohan Quine not only has several books out. He also has a career in alternative modeling and film to look back on. Naturally, he has gone on to make a series of silent short films to go with an audio track of the author reading from his work. It's flooded with city lights, drugs and darkness. One foot in the New York Nineties, and one foot in today's London, it's both hypnotic and gut-churning." - Polly Trope, novelist, writing in "indieBerlin" "A cautionary tale of the potential corrupting power both of vanity and of the internet plays out in modern London's high-tech dockland offices and luxury apartments, with brief forays to lavish West End hotels and country houses. [...] As the story becomes ever darker, gentle touches of humour provide a little light relief. I particularly enjoyed the characterisation of the women, especially the wonderfully petulant Angel Deon [...]. While at first this parable's main purpose may seem to rage against the principles of a high tech, monopolistic, capitalist world that enable individuals to lead unspeakably privileged lives above the law, it is at the same time a cautionary tale against narcissism and the abandonment of love and compassion for others. This broader theme gives the story its true heart and depth. Quine is renowned for his rich, inventive and original prose, and he is skilled at blending contemporary and ancient icons and themes. [...] an interesting approach to dialogue, blending idiom and phraseology from different eras, from Victorian times through 20th century popular film culture to the modern day. [...] There are some classic moments of horror that are very filmic, including one on a par with the Psycho shower scene. Without giving too much away, I can imagine this book might put readers off accessing their own attics for a while." - Debbie Young, novelist and Amazon UK 1,000 Reviewer, writing in "Vine Leaves Literary Journal", about "The Host in the Attic" "This is an extraordinary writer. I am going to gorge myself on these novellas as soon as I possibly can." - JJ Marsh, novelist "cerebral works full of brilliant imagery and invention. This series of novellas are all well crafted and designed to draw the reader in to the shifting realities of their settings. The title novella `The Platinum Raven' in fact has two young women in two narratives [...] very vividly described. There are elements of magical realism and alternate reality throughout. At times the two Ravens appear to communicate but the levels of reality are enigmatic and intriguing. `The Host in the Attic' is a beautifully reinterpreted version of `The Picture of Dorian Gray' set in a high-tech dystopian world and a sinister computer global company - Mainframe Corporation, which appears to permeate every level of society. The hologram corporate image logo is in essence Dorian. All the main characters from Wilde's novel are here in more modern form. It has a tremendous and horrific climax. The horror novella `Apricot Eyes' is a fast-paced horror tale in a nightmarish New York. `Hallucination in Hong Kong' is a mysterious tale of past and present, dreams and waking with horror and love themes. The whole collection is a roller-coaster of at times nightmarish perceptions and strange surreal happenings brilliantly imagined. The tales leave a lasting impression and I recommend highly." - Alexander Gordon-Wood, actor
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Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9781916147614
Publisert
2019-08-05
Utgiver
Vendor
EC1 Digital
Aldersnivå
G, 01
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Lydfil

Forfatter
Narrator

Biographical note

Rohan Quine is an author of literary fiction with a touch of magical realism and a dusting of horror. He grew up in South London, spent a couple of years in L.A. and then a decade in New York, where he ran around excitably, saying a few well-chosen words in various feature films and TV shows, such as "Zoolander", "Election", "Oz", "Third Watch", "100 Centre Street", "The Last Days of Disco", "The Basketball Diaries", "Spin City" and "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (see www.rohanquine.com/those-new-york-nineties/film-tv). He's now living back in East London, as an Imagination Thief, with his boyfriend and a caramel-coloured rabbit. His novel THE BEASTS OF ELECTRA DRIVE (a Finalist in the IAN Book of the Year Awards 2018) is a prequel to his other five tales, and a good place to start. See www.rohanquine.com/press-media/the-beasts-of-electra-drive-reviews-media for reviews by "Kirkus", "Bookmuse", "Bending the Bookshelf" and others. From Hollywood mansions to South Central motels, havoc and love are wrought across a mythic L.A., through the creations of games designer Jaymi, in a unique explosion of glamour and beauty, horror and enchantment, celebrating the magic of creativity itself. In addition to its paperback format, his novel THE IMAGINATION THIEF is available as an ebook that contains links to film and audio and photographic content in conjunction with the text. See www.rohanquine.com/press-media/the-imagination-thief-reviews-media for some nice reviews in "The Guardian", "Bookmuse", "indieBerlin" and elsewhere. It's about a web of secrets triggered by the stealing and copying of people's imaginations and memories, the magic that can be conjured by images of people, the split between beauty and happiness, and the allure of power. Four novellas - THE PLATINUM RAVEN, THE HOST IN THE ATTIC, APRICOT EYES and HALLUCINATION IN HONG KONG - are published as separate ebooks, and also as a single paperback THE PLATINUM RAVEN AND OTHER NOVELLAS. See www.rohanquine.com/press-media/the-novellas-reviews-media for reviews of these novellas, including by Iris Murdoch, James Purdy, "Lambda Book Report" and "New York Press". Hunting as a pack, all four delve deep into the beauty, darkness and mirth of this predicament called life, where we seem to have been dropped without sufficient consultation ahead of time. The six titles are in the process of being released in audiobook and video-book formats too, performed by the author. www.rohanquine.com "Rohan Quine is one of the most original voices in the literary world today - and one of the most brilliant." -"Guardian" Books blogger Dan Holloway "The swooping eloquence of this book had me hypnotised. Quine leaps into pools of imagery, delighting in what words can do. The fact that the reader is lured into joining this kaleidoscopic, elemental ballet marks this out as something fresh and unusual. In addition to the language, two other elements make their mark. The seaside ghost town with echoes of the past and the absorbing, varied and rich cast of characters. It's a story with a concept, place and people you'll find hard to leave." -JJ Marsh, "Bookmuse" "Quine is renowned for his rich, inventive and original prose, and he is skilled at blending contemporary and ancient icons and themes." -Debbie Young, "Vine Leaves Literary Journal"