New novel from reclusive author Thomas Pynchon coming this year
American author Thomas Pynchon's first novel in more than a decade will be released later this year.
Publisher Penguin Random House confirmed that the 87-year-old
reclusive novelist
has finished his latest work, "Shadow Ticket", which will be released in October.
"Shadow Ticket" will be Pynchon's 10th book and eighth novel. It's the first thing the author has released since his last novel, 2013's 'Bleeding Edge'.
Related
'What it means to be a human': Short-but-punchy books dominate International Booker Prize shortlist
Patti Smith announces a new memoir 'Bread of Angels'
Set during the Great Depression in Milwaukee, the novel follows private eye Hicks McTaggart investigating the location of a Wisconsin cheese heiress, before being whisked away on a cruise to Hungary that sees him entangled with 'Nazis, Soviet agents, British counterspies, swing musicians, practitioners of the paranormal, outlaw motorcyclists, and the troubles that come with each of them'.
'Surrounded by history he has no grasp on and can't see his way around in or out of, the only bright side for Hicks is it's the dawn of the Big Band Era and as it happens he's a pretty good dancer. Whether this will be enough to allow him somehow to lindy-hop his way back again to Milwaukee and the normal world, which may no longer exist, is another question', the publisher's blurb reveals.
As with his past two novels "Bleeding Edge" and "Inherent Vice", the plot sounds full-on Pynchonesque with its genre-bending absurd take on history.
A new release from the writer makes 2025 a double feature year from the respected postmodernist. Last month, the first trailer came out for
Paul Thomas Anderson's latest film
'
One Battle After Another'
, which is reportedly loosely based on Pynchon's third novel "Vineland".
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor, and Chase Infiniti, 'One Battle After Another' is set for a late September release.
This isn't the first time that Anderson has adapted a Pynchon novel. His 2014 film '
Inherent Vice'
was a surprisingly faithful adaptation of his 2009 novel. From industry reports and the trailer's first look, this adaptation seems looser, at minimum bringing the 80s setting of "Vineland" into contemporary times.
Since Pynchon's debut novel "V." in 1963, he has become renowned for his complex plots, bracingly vibrant humour, and razor-sharp societal commentary. He is most famous for "Gravity's Rainbow" released in 1973 and considered his magnum opus. Like the rest of his work, it tackles a huge breadth of themes through its elaborate plotting. For many, it is a masterpiece of the postmodern era.
Pynchon may be considered one of the greatest postmodern writers alongside John Barth and Samuel Beckett, but his placement in literary history hasn't made him a public figure. Since 1963, Pynchon has been a social recluse, eschewing media interviews.
Little is known about Pynchon from where he lives to even what he looks like. The latest photos of the writer publicly available are from his college days, while most accounts of his life come from childhood friends.
Pynchon's voice has only been featured a few times in mainstream media. He's given two cameo voice-over appearances in episodes of 'The Simpsons' playing himself as a reclusive artist desperate for attention. The other time was in the trailer of Anderson's '
Inherent Vice'
and also reportedly has a small role in the final film.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Euronews
01-08-2025
- Euronews
Beloved British children's author Allan Ahlberg dies aged 87
Celebrated British children's author Allan Ahlberg has died aged 87, his publisher Penguin Random House has confirmed. Ahlberg wrote 150 books, including beloved titles like 'The Jolly Postman or Other People's Letters', 'Funny Bones', 'Burglar Bill', 'Peepo!' and 'Each Peach Pear Plum'. He worked with his first wife, Janet, an award-winning illustrator, for these classics – which sold millions of copies around the world. The prize-winning 'The Jolly Postman', published in 1991, has sold over six million copies. In Euronews Culture's The Books That Made Us, we described "The Jolly Postman"'s 'wild and varied characters' and the happiness that decries from reading such a joyful book. After Janet's death in 1994, he worked with other illustrators like Raymond Briggs and then went on to collaborate with his daughter Jessica for books like 'Half a Pig'. Ahlberg also made headlines in 2014 when he refused a lifetime achievement award because it was sponsored by Amazon, which was facing criticism over its tax arrangements. Francesca Dow, head of children's literature at Penguin Random House, said: "Allan was one of the most extraordinary authors I have had the privilege and pleasure to work with. His brilliant books – so many of them created with his late wife, Janet, the highly talented illustrator – have been described as 'mini masterpieces'.' She added: "Allan's are some of the very best – true classics, which will be loved by children and families for years to come. Dear Allan, we will all miss you enormously." Fellow children's author Michael Rosen said in a tribute on X: "You were a pioneer of great children's literature, both in picture books and poetry. You were clever, funny and wise. My children loved your books. So did and so DO I." Born in Croydon in 1938, Ahlberg was adopted into a working-class family living in the West Midlands town of Oldbury. He worked as a postman and gravedigger before training to become a teacher at Sunderland Teacher Training College, where he met Janet. Ahlberg is survived by his wife Vanessa, daughter Jessica and stepdaughters Saskia and Johanna.
Euronews
10-04-2025
- Euronews
New novel from reclusive author Thomas Pynchon coming this year
ADVERTISEMENT American author Thomas Pynchon's first novel in more than a decade will be released later this year. Publisher Penguin Random House confirmed that the 87-year-old reclusive novelist has finished his latest work, "Shadow Ticket", which will be released in October. "Shadow Ticket" will be Pynchon's 10th book and eighth novel. It's the first thing the author has released since his last novel, 2013's 'Bleeding Edge'. Related 'What it means to be a human': Short-but-punchy books dominate International Booker Prize shortlist Patti Smith announces a new memoir 'Bread of Angels' Set during the Great Depression in Milwaukee, the novel follows private eye Hicks McTaggart investigating the location of a Wisconsin cheese heiress, before being whisked away on a cruise to Hungary that sees him entangled with 'Nazis, Soviet agents, British counterspies, swing musicians, practitioners of the paranormal, outlaw motorcyclists, and the troubles that come with each of them'. 'Surrounded by history he has no grasp on and can't see his way around in or out of, the only bright side for Hicks is it's the dawn of the Big Band Era and as it happens he's a pretty good dancer. Whether this will be enough to allow him somehow to lindy-hop his way back again to Milwaukee and the normal world, which may no longer exist, is another question', the publisher's blurb reveals. As with his past two novels "Bleeding Edge" and "Inherent Vice", the plot sounds full-on Pynchonesque with its genre-bending absurd take on history. A new release from the writer makes 2025 a double feature year from the respected postmodernist. Last month, the first trailer came out for Paul Thomas Anderson's latest film ' One Battle After Another' , which is reportedly loosely based on Pynchon's third novel "Vineland". Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor, and Chase Infiniti, 'One Battle After Another' is set for a late September release. This isn't the first time that Anderson has adapted a Pynchon novel. His 2014 film ' Inherent Vice' was a surprisingly faithful adaptation of his 2009 novel. From industry reports and the trailer's first look, this adaptation seems looser, at minimum bringing the 80s setting of "Vineland" into contemporary times. Since Pynchon's debut novel "V." in 1963, he has become renowned for his complex plots, bracingly vibrant humour, and razor-sharp societal commentary. He is most famous for "Gravity's Rainbow" released in 1973 and considered his magnum opus. Like the rest of his work, it tackles a huge breadth of themes through its elaborate plotting. For many, it is a masterpiece of the postmodern era. Pynchon may be considered one of the greatest postmodern writers alongside John Barth and Samuel Beckett, but his placement in literary history hasn't made him a public figure. Since 1963, Pynchon has been a social recluse, eschewing media interviews. Little is known about Pynchon from where he lives to even what he looks like. The latest photos of the writer publicly available are from his college days, while most accounts of his life come from childhood friends. Pynchon's voice has only been featured a few times in mainstream media. He's given two cameo voice-over appearances in episodes of 'The Simpsons' playing himself as a reclusive artist desperate for attention. The other time was in the trailer of Anderson's ' Inherent Vice' and also reportedly has a small role in the final film.
Euronews
28-03-2025
- Euronews
Salman Rushdie announces first fiction work since near-fatal stabbing
ADVERTISEMENT Author Salman Rushdie is set to release his first work of fiction since the attempt on his life in 2022 . "The Eleventh Hour", which comprises three novellas bookended by a prologue and epilogue, will be released globally on 4 November this year. In its announcement of the book, publisher Penguin Random House described it as "a moving, masterful collection of stories that transport us around the world from Bombay neighbourhoods to elite English universities". "Salman Rushdie's new fiction moves between the places he has grown up in, inhabited, explored, and left. In doing so, he asks fundamental questions we all one day face. How does one deal with, accommodate, or rail against entering the eleventh hour, the final stage of your life? How can you bid farewell to the places you have made home?" The Eleventh Hour Random House via AP Rushdie himself described the book in personal terms. "The three novellas in this volume, all written in the last twelve months, explore themes and places that have been much on my mind — mortality, Bombay, farewells, England (especially Cambridge), anger, peace, America. And Goya and Kafka and Bosch as well." "I'm happy that the stories, very different from one another in setting, story and technique, nevertheless manage to be in conversation with one another, and with the two stories that serve as prologue and epilogue to this threesome. I have come to think of the quintet as a single work, and I hope readers may see and enjoy it in the same way." While Rushdie's most recent novel, " Victory City ", was published in 2023, he had already completed it before the attempt on his life in 2022, which came 33 years after the then-supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for his execution in punishment for his novel "The Satanic Verses". In his memoir recalling the attack, " Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder ", Rushdie described the moment he saw 24-year-old assailant Hadi Matar dashing towards him. "In the corner of my right eye – the last thing my right eye would ever see – I saw the man in black running toward me down the right-hand side of the seating area," Rushdie wrote. "Black clothes, black face mask. He was coming in hard and low. A squat missile." 'I confess, I had sometimes imagined my assassin rising up in some public forum or other, and coming for me in just this way. So my first thought when I saw this murderous shape rushing towards me was, 'So it's you. Here you are.'" "The Eleventh Hour" by Salman Rushdie will be published on 4 November (Vintage).
