New Reggie Oliver Title Announced

The enterprising small press Ex Occidente has announced another Reggie Oliver book to be published late this year, not too far on the heels of their last publication by Oliver, Madder Mysteries. The new book is a real divergence for the author: a full length novel rather than a short story collection. The story will be released under the title Virtue in Danger, and will be released in a terribly limited printing of only 230 copies.

Ex Occidente has posted an outline of the book's intricate course of events:

It is July 1963. At its headquarters, a former luxury hotel in the Swiss Alps, crisis is facing the Moral Regeneration Movement, a powerful modern, quasi-religious cult. Its founder and leader, Arnold Breitman is dying. Questions are already being asked about who is to succeed him.

There are a number of likely candidates. They include a former tennis champion, a Swiss industrialist, a trade unionist and a doctor. But each of them hides a guilty secret.

Into this troubled situation comes a world-weary professional actor, Ivor Smith who, quite by accident, finds himself at the very epicentre of the crisis, playing an unexpectedly influential role.

The cast of characters also includes an exiled Balkan King, his ambitious queen, his twin daughters, a gay policeman, an assassin, a gossip columnist, a Lutheran Pastor with an obsession about goats and a host of others.

Terrible secrets are revealed, uncontrollable passions are unleashed. The pace is furious. Comedy is rarely absent, but underneath runs a serious subtext. Questions about the nature of morality and the motivations of those who set themselves up as moral leaders are asked. All these elements are bound together into a terrific climax on a mountain top, followed by a joyous ending that might be described as "fairy tale" if it were not laced with mordant wit.

Details are somewhat sketchy, but the storyline described coupled with Reggie Oliver's previous literary themes suggests it will be a lengthy foray into new strange territory. For Oliver, this represents an interesting expansion of his talents into long form, hopefully maintaining the strange atmosphere and imagery cultivated in his earlier stories. A cautionary note might be added over the fact that many observers consider weird fiction novels to be weaker and somehow "less weird" than short stories. However, this isn't always the case, and perhaps Reggie Oliver's contribution to the thin library of weird novels will boost their reputation. We will all know when this book begins shipping out in Fall, 2009.

-Grim Blogger