Le French Book Releases 13 Kindle e-Books of Short Stories

By: May. 23, 2013
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Le French Book has now released its full 99-cent e-book series of short stories from seven of France's best writers-Tatiana de Rosnay, Didier Van Cauwelaert, Yann Queffélec, Daniel Picouly, Christine Orban, Irène Frain, and Harold Cobert. Among them, this unlikely combination of French literary giantsincluding two Goncourt prize winners and one of France's most-read authorshave written upwards of 175 acclaimed works of literature. Here, they got together to play a collaborative writing game that resulted in seven-author stories. Each one is a study in the creative process, in addition to being playful and often just plain wacky. One five-star review calls them "truly fun, dark humor guaranteed."

The e-books are available on Kindle only and through the Kindle Lending Library for Prime users. The collection, called 52 Serial Shorts is divided into thirteen 99-cent e-books with four stories in each volume. Publisher and translator Anne Trager explains. "This work first came out in France in the form of a calendar, with an episode a day, a story a week, and fifty-stories for the year. We set up a free daily newsletter online to give readers this same experience of discovery, but we also wanted to make them available in other ways."

Le French Book's mission is to bring entertaining novels and short stories to new readers across the English-speaking world. For Anne Trager, this collection of short stories "embodies the very vibrant, creative world in France that we are set to make available in English. And it's a hilarious peek into the minds of some very fine writers."

The authors

  • Tatiana de Rosnay is a household word in both France and the United States, who ranks as one of France's top ten novelists and one of the most-read French authors. Her Sarah's Key sold two million copies in English and three million in French. Tatiana, who writes in both English and French, says that she is "very impressed" by the translation.
  • Didier Van Cauwelaert is a French author of Belgian descent, who won the prestigious Prix Goncourt in 1994 for One Way. His books are translated into over twenty languages.
  • Yann Queffélec also won the Prix Goncourt, in 1985 for The Wedding, which is one of thirty-two novels and essays he has written.
  • Daniel Picouly, writer and television personality, wrote his first novel with the help of Daniel Pennac, and now has fourteen novels and nearly forty other works to his name, including children's books and comics.
  • Christine Orban is a bestselling French novelist best known for her explorations of love, desire and female psychology, with over twenty years of writing behind her.
  • Irène Frain, novelist, historian and journalist, is a major figure in French literary circles who began her career as a professor at the Sorbonne. She has over thirty books to her name.
  • Harold Cobert is the youngest of the crowd. He has written six major tomes about the French revolutionary Mirabeau, and three novels, one of which one the Prix du Style, for literary style.

The Stories

Volume 1: A Cursed Week - Greener in China - Slice of a Cougar's Life - Ground-Traffic Controller
Volume 2: A Couch for Seven - Room 602 - Saint Valentine is No Saint - God Save the Trees
Volume 3: The Beast with Two Backs - Dangerous Mission - The Forgotten Cell Phone - The Girl who Watched Funerals Go by
Volume 4: Beethoven Lives on the Sixth Floor - The Resistible Rise of Doctor Knockers - The Lost Corpse - The Bugaboo Truce
Volume 5: The Voice - Tinker Bell - Tac - Soppy
Volume 6: The Worrisome Disappearance of the Larousse Gastronomique - Back to Koenigsmark - The Virtues of Confession - Writers are Cruel
Volume 7: Just Add Sunflower - The Forgotten Briefcase - The Abruzzes Fiancée - Janus Balm
Volume 8: Place de la Bastille, July 14 - The Mystery of the Ground-Floor Room - Dildamox - The Cinque Terre Accident
Volume 9: They Stole the Night - The Happy Narcissist's Position - Panic at Gritti Palace - Save Our Story
Volume 10: War of the Gladiolas - Monomania - The Skeleton Captain - The First Visit
Volume 11: The Letter - Kitsch - In 3010, We Will Have a House on Mars - Retrograde Mercury
Volume 12: I Spit on Your Grave - Booker-Price - A Paper Harem - My Problem with Turkey
Volume 13: Fade In-Fade Out - A Cold Wind Blowing on Piccadilly Circus - Wanting to Crawl out of Your Skin in Front of the Finger Bowls - The Man Who Wanted to Be Free - Merry Christmas

Online press kit: http://www.lefrenchbook.com/press-room/media-kit-52-serial-shorts/

A brief encounter with three of the authors: Murder in a Cellar with Wine and Sushi.

About Le French Book

Le French Book (http://www.lefrenchbook.com) is a New York-based digital-first publisher specialized in great reads from France. The company's motto is, "If we love it, we translate it."

©2013 Le French Book, Inc. All rights reserved. Information is subject to change without notice.


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