(by 3 people)
The Raw Shark Texts, by Steven Hall
An unputdownable psychological thriller about loss and the nature of identity.
Moby Dick meets The Matrix in this fiercely original and breathtaking novel.
"My eyes slammed themselves capital O open."
Eric Sanderson is jolted awake one morning to discover that he does not know who he or where he is. All he has to cling to is a series of letters and packages - which he is warned not to open - signed "with regret and hope" from the First Eric Sanderson.
Attacked in his own home by a force he cannot see and memories he cannot ignore -- including those of a perfect love now lost -- Eric tears open the parcels, he discovers he is being relentlessly pursued by a shark that may only exist in his mind, but which stalks him through the flows and streams of human interaction. Hunting the answers as he is hunted, Eric is lead on a journey that will either bring The First Eric Sanderson back to life, or destroy both Eric Sandersons forever.
A daring and unique novel that confronts readers with literary hieroglyphs as well as an intensely original story, The Raw Shark Texts plumbs the depths and dangers of language, the fluidity of memory and the bittersweet ripples of loss.
Essentially a love story, it is at once achingly sad, sexy, electrifying, exhilirating and thrilling.
You will want to talk about it.
You will want to blog about it.
The Raw Shark Texts will change the way you look at everything.
The Ludovician: A Conceptual, Unusual fish
An extract from the book
"The Ludovician fish is a predator, a shark. It feeds on human memories and the intrinsic sense of self. Ludovicians are solitary, fiercely territorial and methodical hunters. A Ludovician might select an individual human being as its prey animal, and pursue and feed on that individual over the course of years, until that victim's memory and identity have been completely consumed. Sometimes, the target's body survives this ordeal and may go on to live a second twilight life after the original self and memories have been taken. In time, such a person may establish a 'bolt on' identity of their own, but the Ludovician will eventually catch the scent of this and return to complete its kill." Creating a Splash in Hull, and Around the World
The Raw Shark Texts is white hot
Steven Hall's debut novel was the most talked about novel at the 2006 London Book Fair, and has been sold to 21 international book publishers.Steven previously produced a number of plays, music videos, concrete prose/conceptual art pieces and short stories, including "Stories for a Phone Book," featured in New Writing 13.
He lives in Hull, England. There aren't many famous people from Hull. Off the top of my head I can think of Philip Larkin and Fat Boy Slim.
Steven will be bigger than them both.
There aren't enough films about fish, especially conceptual ones
The hollywood buzz
Nicole Kidman was so obsessed with the book that she contacted Steven to ask him - in vain - to change the sex of the lead character so she could play it.Film rights have been optioned by Film Four in association with Blueprint Pictures and Pathé in the UK.
This is a very strange book. It would make make a very strange, but potentially awesome, film. David Lynch gets my vote to direct...
If you like these, you might like The Raw Shark Texts...
- How the hell do you conceive a book as oblique and mind-bendingly brilliant as The Raw Shark Texts?
The story behind the book is a fascinating one, and Steven has a candid blog all about it on his myspace page (see the link below). It's a must. If this page hasn't convinced you to read The Raw Shark Texts, Steven's will.
Praise for The Raw Shark Texts
- "Fast, sexy, intriguing, intelligent - The Raw Shark Texts is all these and more: a cult classic waiting to happen, a blockbuster begging to be made. Steven Hall is a truly fantastic storyteller. Investigate, now!"
-Toby Litt, author of Ghost Story - "A remarkable book. I felt that I was in such good hands - not safe exactly, but assured. I loved the humanity of the characters. It is a very original and compelling world."
- Louise Welsh, author of The Bullet Trick - Much more to come when the book is released...
A huge, beautiful shark
Enjoy this semi-gratutious video of a Great White Shark in the wild
More Raw Shark
Get below the surface of this sharp-toothed work of genius
- Buy or Order a copy NOW
- Get hold of a copy now. Choose from a wide variety of retailers
- Raw Shark Canada
- Official website for the book in Canada
- Get a FREE Copy
- An exclusive opportunity to read the most astonishing literary debut of recent years prior to publication courtesy of HarperCollins FirstLook.
This book is so good, the publishers want to give you a copy. Tell your friends - Steven Hall at HarperCollins Canada
- Canadian publisher's website - look out for Raw Shark multimedia coming soon
- The Raw Shark Texts Website
- Delve deeper. The deeper you go, the better it gets
- Steven Hall's Raw Shark MySpace Page
- Steven's personal site. He'll be posting extracts, notes and deleted scenes from The Raw Shark Texts, as well as explaining how he came to write it... check out the blog as it evolves
- The Shark Research Institute
- Sharks are scary. But all the best things in life are kind of scary to begin with. Learn more about the non-conceptual variety...
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