Melbourne, Australia, with his wife and two daughters. Sometimes he coaches kids' netball.
Barry's new novel is The 22 Murders of Madison May.
At CrimeReads he tagged five top books that are secretly science fiction.
The books ... offer reality with a twist: Something about the world is not quite normal. But you may not notice at first, because they’re all about people. At heart, they’re human dramas, which want to show you fully lived-in characters confronted with situations that challenge them in personal ways.One title on the list:
Lincoln in the Bardo, by George SaundersRead about another entry on the list.
During the Civil War, President Lincoln’s son Willie dies from fever. His father takes his body to the cemetery, where he is surprised to meet a variety of ghosts. But this is no horror tale; it’s a riotous parade of ideas and conversation, during which we get to know the private lives of a variety of the recently and not-so-recently passed. George Saunders has long been a master of absurdist fiction, and can make the fantastical feel both strange and relatable. Some of the ghosts are truly grotesque, but beneath their glowing exteriors beat human hearts. At least, metaphorically.
Lincoln in the Bardo is among Lit Hub's ten best debut novels of the 2010s, Louise Doughty's ten top ghost stories, Emily Temple's ten wonderful works of literary fantasy, and Kathy Bates's ten best books.
--Marshal Zeringue
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