Human Wishes / Enemy Combatant

With an afterword by Joseph G Ramsey

The unnamed, somewhat paranoid hero’s experiences of “In-Between places” such as an airport baggage reclaim area, a hotel complex that exists solely to cater for bumped airline passengers, a rest stop, and a shopping mall, are achingly funny. But the humour takes increasingly dark turns: the “literary novel” is turned inside out as we encounter a plot to kidnap and replace the critic James Wood, an unknown play allegedly by Samuel Beckett (featuring Dr Johnson and his cat Hodge) is discovered and its fugitive production discussed, and, finally, the horror of the Palestinian Nakba is confronted.

The re-publication of this book has already been welcomed by its many fans. We too look forward to seeing it back in print.

"A novel that thinks and doubts and rethinks everything you’ve ever thought and doubted and rethought about a novel."
– JACOB BACHARACH, The Rumpus

"Beautifully witty and avant in its refusal to stoop to any kind of cliché, while dismantling clichés as though they are kitschy cuckoo clocks and reassembling them into room-sized set-pieces one can walk through.... I can still remember laughing while reading it; laughing on the U-Bahn and at my desk and laughing about it even, at odd moments, without the book in hand."
– STEVEN AUGUSTINE, The Imperialist

"It is not … despite that nightmare ending, a sombre book; on the contrary, it is bracingly literary in its references, and above all very funny in its wit and linguistic invention. No synopsis could adequately describe it, and this review doesn’t attempt to do so. It attempts only to encourage you to read it, slowly and enjoy the ride…."
– DAVID ROSE, American Book Review