Read an excerpt from Liquidambar.

JOURNALIST TYPO BLOD meets a stranger on public transport, causing him to become absorbed by Edward Hopper’s paintings like a fly in amber. Time halts at the instant Hopper depicted in his most famous works and Blod’s world is thrown out of kilter. In a city tantalisingly part historical, part fantastical, Blod falls in love with Ellen Bogen, the subject of Hopper’s painting Summertime.

Liquidambar combines the noir atmosphere of the Philip Marlowe adventures with Russell Hoban’s magical surrealism and the characters and imagery of Hopper’s paintings in a surprisingly fresh detective story.

Blod struggles to persuade CitySidewalk magazine’s editor, Jonas Wheeler, to commission some articles from him. In the meantime, Blod encounters C.O. Jones, a mysterious, homeless character, begging on a commuter train. Jones claims to be trapped in a “vicious circle” and shows Blod a book that has a dramatic and physical effect: Blod slips through a crack in reality and finds himself in the driving seat of a car, on a road nothing to do with the city in which he thought he lived. A gas station attendant fills the car’s tank with “liquid amber”, and directs him towards the city of Fulcrum. Here, Jones re-appears to provoke Blod with questions about distant memories. They are clues and Blod’s answers propel him along an increasingly bizarre storyline.

By the story’s culmination, Blod realises his experiences have taught him to better appreciate the “liquid amber” of the present moment.

The novel Liquidambar was the winner of the international PABD/UK Authors ‘Search For A Great Read’ competition. The judging panel commented:

“The style is clearly outstanding.”

“I began reading this one shortly after I got up, was instantly captivated, and knew at once it was a potential winner. This is a compulsive read.”

“Quite brilliant and completely original.”

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