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"As his weapon, he developed a private investigator who is already at the scene or in the immediate vicinity when foul play takes place, so that the perp can be caught redhanded and the case quickly solved, thus offering crime fiction to people who don't have the time to read long books, or who simply hate to read, but love crime."--
About the author
Johan Harstad is a Norwegian author, graphic designer, playwright, drummer, and international sensation. He is the winner of the 2008 Brage Award (Brageprisen), previously won by Per Petterson, and his books have been published in over eleven countries. In 2009, he was named the first ever in-house playwright at the National Theatre in Oslo. His first novel Buzz Aldrin, What Happened To You In All The Confusion, originally published in Norway by Gyldendal in 2005, was made into a TV series in 2009 starring The Wire’s Chad Coleman. Harstad lives in Oslo.
Summary
A riotous metafictional dissection of a "famous" Norwegian detective writer
Frode Brandeggen (1970–2014), an unknown voice to most readers, made his debut in 1992
with the experimental 2,000+ page novel Conglomerate Breath. It was never reviewed and soon
forgotten. After that, he created a new genre, writing fifteen micro-novels about "Red Handler," a
protest-oriented crime fiction project aimed at confronting the genre’s weakness—and often
unnecessary length.
As his weapon, he developed a private investigator who is already at the
scene or in the immediate vicinity when foul play takes place, so that the perp can be caught red
handed and the case quickly solved, thus offering crime fiction to people who don’t have the
time to read long books, or who simply hate to read, but love crime.
This book brings together all fifteen micro-novels Brandeggen wrote about Red
Handler for the first time, and is also equipped with a comprehensive amount of enthusiastic, explanatory,
complementary, and sometimes strangely digressive endnotes, written in the pen of Brandeggen’s
closest literary confidant in the final years, German professional annotator Bruno Aigner (1934–).
This novel about the fiction Red Handler, Frode Brandeggen, and Bruno Aigner is Johan Harstad’s wildest, most hysterical project to date.
Foreword
PROMOTIONAL COPIES: Over 250 copies will be sent to booksellers and reviewers across the country.STRONG MEDIA CAMPAIGN: Building on the promotion done by Hoford Star, the UK publisher.GIVEAWAYS: Through Open Letter's social media accounts and the Three Percent website.EBOOK AVAILABLE: Ebook will be mentioned on all press release materials, Open Letter website, etc.
