Nothing Sacred
Outspoken Voices in Contemporary Fiction
Published on 20. May 2025
264 pages
978-1-949846-71-3 (ISBN)
Description
Exploring uncharted literary territory, Nothing Sacred: Outspoken Voices in Contemporary Fiction offers the reading public a compilation of spellbinding stories on topics as diverse as crumbling male privilege, moonshine whiskey brewing, language policing, immigrant experience, sexual transgression, and plain heresy.
At a time when the American publishing industry increasingly perceives fiction lovers as rather delicate creatures-easily offended, allergic to ambiguity, afraid to venture outside their comfort zones-Nothing Sacred: Outspoken Voices in Contemporary Fiction was born of the opposite assumption. While the twelve authors represented in this anthology could scarcely be more diverse in their worldviews, cultural backgrounds, thematic obsessions, and prose styles, they all share two attributes: an abiding respect for their readers, and a ravenous appetite for audacity. Among the characters you'll encounter in these stories are a former child star who fears he has become just another piece of Hollywood jetsam; a band of Cuban immigrant children determined to celebrate Independence Day on their own terms; a Holocaust survivor turned serial killer; an alternate-history Malcolm X confronting J. Edgar Hoover's squad of zombies; a medical student who supports himself by starring in video porn; a rogue AI in thrall to a notorious Christian heresy; and a Tennessee Trump voter with a gift for making moonshine whiskey and spouting colorful rhetoric.
At a time when the American publishing industry increasingly perceives fiction lovers as rather delicate creatures-easily offended, allergic to ambiguity, afraid to venture outside their comfort zones-Nothing Sacred: Outspoken Voices in Contemporary Fiction was born of the opposite assumption. While the twelve authors represented in this anthology could scarcely be more diverse in their worldviews, cultural backgrounds, thematic obsessions, and prose styles, they all share two attributes: an abiding respect for their readers, and a ravenous appetite for audacity. Among the characters you'll encounter in these stories are a former child star who fears he has become just another piece of Hollywood jetsam; a band of Cuban immigrant children determined to celebrate Independence Day on their own terms; a Holocaust survivor turned serial killer; an alternate-history Malcolm X confronting J. Edgar Hoover's squad of zombies; a medical student who supports himself by starring in video porn; a rogue AI in thrall to a notorious Christian heresy; and a Tennessee Trump voter with a gift for making moonshine whiskey and spouting colorful rhetoric.
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Persons
Bernard Schweizer is a literary scholar with twelve books (monographs, essay collections, and editions) to his credit, including the pioneering study Hating God: The Untold Story of Misotheism (Oxford University Press, 2011) and British feminist writer Rebecca West's posthumous work Survivors in Mexico (Yale University Press, 2003), which Schweizer put together from the author's archives. Schweizer, who grew up in Switzerland, earned a Ph.D. in British Literature from Duke University and then joined the English faculty at Long Island University, Brooklyn, in 2002. After retiring as an emeritus professor in 2019, his literary passions drove him to found Heresy Press as a haven for ambitious, outspoken fiction from writers of all backgrounds.
James Morrow is an American writer specializing in historical fiction and fantasika. To date he has published four stand-alone novellas and ten novels, including the critically acclaimed Godhed Trilogy. His literary honors include the World Fantasy Award (twice), the Nebula Award (twice), and the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award. Morrow lives in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, in proximity to his adored wife, two enigmatic sheepdogs, and a beloved broken-down houseboat.
James Morrow is an American writer specializing in historical fiction and fantasika. To date he has published four stand-alone novellas and ten novels, including the critically acclaimed Godhed Trilogy. His literary honors include the World Fantasy Award (twice), the Nebula Award (twice), and the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award. Morrow lives in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, in proximity to his adored wife, two enigmatic sheepdogs, and a beloved broken-down houseboat.
