Fiction — Titles — Astrophil Press

Invasion of the Daffodils

During the Korean War, on a small island off the coast of California, Chico Flores scavenges a mysterious crate of daffodil bulbs that have washed ashore at Sucker’s Cove. He is delighted; he can sell the bulbs and make much-needed money to support his family. But these bulbs are different, alien even. They seem to click and hiss and have minds of their own, and when planted, they send up shoots unnaturally fast, swamping gardens, cracking through pavement, splitting the foundations of buildings. Very soon, the Island is facing a full-scale invasion, and as Chico and his family find themselves in the crosshairs of an irate community, the Islanders' long-standing rifts around race, class, and sexuality explode into the open.

Piacentini’s lyrical novel about family, “invasion,” and heroism, rifles through the tumult of love and the rubble of loss to examine the problems and possibilities of unexpected and inevitable change.

Fictionduncan barlowSeptember 11, 2024Fiction, LGBTIA+, Latinx

Leopold's Labyrinth

Leopold’s Labyrinth puts the reader at the center of a story where they take shape as a recluse residing in the digitally-constructed environments of the future—the cybergothic landscape of the 2020s. It is Sunday evening and they just have begun their pilgrimage into a holy labyrinth, in the hopes that they will come upon new artifacts that radiate a simultaneously corporeal and astral aura. The reader is a miner who mines this place for its meaning. Leopold’s Labyrinth is a funhouse turned videogame for readers. They must interact with textual artifacts, deduct meaning, and grapple with the complex human issues turned upside down and inside out. You will perhaps not read a more interactive and fascinating novel this year.

Fictionduncan barlowJune 2, 2024Fiction, Technology, Innovative

None of this is an Invitation

A mystery and queer hauntology, None of This Is an Invitation follows Nina Morris, a young woman desperate to escape the defining event of her youth: the disappearance of her friend and love interest, Alex. One freakishly wintry night in Texas, Alex enters the woods of Bidwell Ridge, and–like the girls of urban legends–is never seen again. Nearly two decades later, after Nina’s many failed attempts to reinvent herself, Alex returns in phantasmic form beckoning Nina back to the enigmatic dreamscape of their Texas girlhood. Through the uncanny surreality of a mirror world, Nina sets out to solve the enigma of their shared past: did Nina’s older brother abduct Alex? Did Alex commit suicide? Is she still alive after all these years in Bidwell Ridge? What worldly or unworldly forces entwine their fates: a haunted hometown, a curse, or an unspoken desire?

Fictionduncan barlowJune 1, 2024Fiction, Thriller, Horror, Queer

Waiting for Jonathan Koshy

From the author of Breathless in Bombay and Third Eye Rising comes an intensely engaging novel about life, family, friendship, and duty. In the heart of Pali Hill, the Beverly Hills of Mumbai, four friends await the arrival of Jonathan, a man “greatly appreciated for his wit, his effervescence, and his indignation,” a man exiled from his home state. Through their conversations, we learn of the tumultuous life of Jonathan – how he single-handedly breaks up a gambling den, disarms a rioting mob, charms a recovery agent, evades arrest at a drug-ridden rave party, and brightens up the lives of sex workers and their children. Jonathan has a solution for every crisis that strikes others, but not for his own dysfunctional family life. It is left to life then to resolve matters for him. Drawing on the terse intensity of a play, the sparkling wit of a stand-up comedy, and the insights of a thought-provoking novel, Waiting for Jonathan Koshy reflects the triumph of a spirit that refuses to let up on humor and quick thinking in the face of intense personal adversity. It is a book about friendship, perseverance, family obligations, and duty. Most importantly, about life’s late but redeeming powers.

Fictionduncan barlowMay 31, 2024Fiction, Humor, India, Satire

Ex-Members

There are ruined things in the town of New Dutchess, New Jersey. A hotel that was never finished; a train line that never came. This is the town that Åsa Morgan thought she’d leave behind; this is the town Virgil Carey couldn’t leave. It’s the town where Dean Polis first started writing songs, and the town where something awful fell from a building one day. It’s where the band Alphanumeric Murders got their start, and where a series of tape recordings reveal the troubled history of the band and the lives of its members.

Ex-Members is a novel about punk scenes, old secrets, and hometowns that stalk us and break our hearts despite our best efforts to escape.

Fictionduncan barlowMay 30, 2024Fiction, Music, Punk, Indie

The Apology

Mike Long, a.k.a. Michael Rider, a.k.a. Knight Rider—frustrated philosopher and ersatz office manager—finds himself charged with misdemeanor stalking, simple assault, and planning a terrorist attack, at the end of a very rough work week that includes late-night stakeouts of the new woman in payable, fistfights with the IT guy, pissing in the elevator, and more than one happy hour at Chili’s. This is his apology, not an expression of regret, but a justification.

Fictionduncan barlowMay 28, 2024Fiction, Absurd, Humor

Swerve: A Novel of Divergence

Swerve is a dreamscape detective novel caught up in a multiversal calamity. Swerve jostles and hums. Swerve might be Galileo's cousin, Margaret Cavendish’s niece, and Stephen Hawking’s step-child. Swerve is a once in a generation book that tells the story of three distinct detectives who move across the United States and beyond, uncovering pieces of a mercurial puzzle spanning space and time. As each section unfolds and is interpreted through the others, the detectives’ stories begin to collapse, rewrite, and ultimately, illuminate each other. Taking on a set of constraints (involving dice, reference authors, and geographic points) reminiscent of an OULIPO novel, Swerve invites readers to participate in the investigation alongside the characters, gathering clues, assembling narrative, and piecing together resonances. Come join the mystery—Swerve will not disappoint.

Fictionduncan barlowMay 26, 2024Fiction, Detective, Innovative, OULIPO

Crazy Horse's Girlfriend

Sixteen-year-old Margaritte wants out. Out of her small town, where girls get pregnant young and end up stuck, like her mom. Out of a world where drugs are often the only relief. Out of a family where herNative American mother won’t leave her white, alcoholic, abusive father, no matter how much Margaritte pleads. Margaritte hopes if she and her cousin Jake sell enough weed, they can at least escape to Denver one day. That’s when Mike comes to town. Like Margaritte, he loves to read, he’s funny, and he’s Indian–though unlike Margaritte, he’s adopted out, and doesn’t really understand who he is. That’s when Margaritte gets pregnant. Now what’s she going to do? Get trapped like mom? And is Mike everything that he seems?A coming-of-age novel about the female, urban Indian experience, CrazyHorse’s Girlfriend is not only a gritty, unexpectedly funny, page-turning novel about a girl who just wants a little bit more–it’s an instant classic.

Fictionduncan barlowMay 25, 2024Fiction, Coming of Age, Native

The Whitmire Case

Joanna Ruocco’s The Whitmire Case, is a dark comedic work in the tradition of Samuel Becket. With musical, digressive sentences that probe the odd logic of the mystery at foot, The Whitmire Case is an investigation into a community where sheep seem more logical than people and chaos seems to grow with each attempt the characters make to gain control.

Fictionduncan barlowMay 21, 2024Fiction, Absurd

The Procession of Mollusks

Eric E. Olson’s The Procession of Mollusks, is a psychological detective story that follows an investigator as he tries to solve the mystery surrounding the death of marine biologist. As he descends into the picturesque town of Newport Bay, things begin to get slippery for him, very slippery. As humans begin acting like mollusks and the static boundaries of the world and symbolic order begin to dissolve, the story slithers into a psychedelic world that has as much in common with the work of David Lynch as it does Paul Auster. The Procession of Mollusks is study on slippage and will not disappoint.

Fictionduncan barlowMay 15, 2024Fiction, Absurd, Eco Fiction, Surreal