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Welcome to ZAC O'YEAH!
NEW RELEASES / NYA TITLAR
Click this lovely link to know more and to get your own personal copy: https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/the-great-indian-food-trip/
“Zac is no ordinary travel writer, imposing his prejudices on a city and ignoring things that don’t fall into a pre-constructed pattern. He lets the city speak to him, tell him its story, and not just the story of its food and drink, of which he partakes with both professional and personal interest. Cities also tell him their history, literature and culture. They become living beings, and Zac is the city-whisperer.” The HINDU newspaper
“It is a good thing that I picked up this book after a soul-satisfying meal, so I wouldn’t drool. Or at least that’s what I repeatedly told myself while turning the pages of Zac O’Yeah’s newest book.---...unputdownable. When you finally finish, be prepared to feel hungry, for food and new adventures.” INDIA TODAY Magazine
“Travel writer Zac O’Yeah has traversed the length and breadth of India, stopping for double breakfasts, a handful of lunches, bottles of stuff, which ranges from grog to branded liquor at many a pub or what passes for a pub in the hinterlands, as well as several dinners, all in leisurely sequence. The result is this book, a neat meld of travelogue and food chronicle, which, to fall back on that clichéd term, really does make for an entertaining and informative read.---The ease with which he has digested and continues to digest this diverse nation, ingesting some unusual foods, however, still comes as a surprise.” The INDIAN EXPRESS newspaper
“There is momentum in O’Yeah’s adventure. He is a precise observer of people... Furthermore, as a crime novelist, O’Yeah is skilled in suspense. The Great Indian Food Trip operates as a series of investigations that propel the reader. The India he paints teems with voices past and present. Many food writers use literature to give dimension to the foods they portray. O’Yeah, on the other hand, uses the culinary genre to access the world of colonial and postcolonial Indian literature. Detective-like, he burrows into his favourite authors, their birthplaces and their haunts, and quests for the real-life inspirations behind the imaginary places in their books. There is poignancy in his desire to understand India, this paradoxical, magnificent country, and to realise that it will continue to change centuries after he has gone. Hopefully, there will always be something 'yummy'.” The IRISH TIMES
“...in-depth and immersive, filled with anecdotes that many readers will be delighted to come across. O’Yeah has the advantage of having both an insider’s and outsider’s perspective combining his beginnings as a newcomer to India with his experiences gleaned three decades later. He also has the advantage of having a seemingly cast iron stomach as he goes from breakfast to snack to more snack to lunch to snack and so on – digesting stuffed parathas like 78 rpm discs. Some will wonder how he did it – however, most readers will dig in for an absorbing read. In fact, at one level it could very well have been called ingesting India!” OUTLOOK Magazine
Out now!
The Great Indian Food Trip is an entertaining, erudite adventure of eating, drinking and travelling. This is how Zac O’Yeah has come to understand the Indian subcontinent, his home of thirty years.
O’Yeah’s fast-paced yet profound account charts a writer’s untiring quest for new cultural and culinary experiences. We accompany him on a ‘spare parts’ tour of Shivajinagar, Bengaluru’s slaughterhouse area. He shares the pleasures of drinking beer in Karnataka, toddy in Kerala; eating boiled vegetables and masala-less curries in the Mahatma’s ashram; and finding the true secret of tandoori chicken in Chandigarh. He discovers Goa’s literati sipping cashew feni with Nobel Prize winners and bestseller authors, and finds two of his favourite foods—mushrooms and cheese—in shamudatsi, a Bhutanese stew.
Whether you’re a lover of Indian cuisine or a wanderer seeking inspiration, this multi-course meal promises wonderful discoveries of India’s delicacies, their origins and their locales. O’Yeah captures India in a nutshell—a big, coconut-sized one.
Also out last year:
A book that will tickle like a pickle!
In his Digesting India ‘Zac takes the reader along on a wild rollercoaster ride across the sub-continent, magically expanding and contracting time and space at will. Full of tasty temptations and sinful seductions this drool-worthy à la carte memoir is a thrilling page-turner—an irresistible invitation to throw caution to the wind and binge. O’Yeah!’
–Pushpesh Pant, food critic and historian
‘Zac O’Yeah is the ideal companion for a meal or seventy-seven. His energy is infectious, and his appetite—for food, but also for conversation and literature—is vast. Digesting India is a paean to India, from a man who has learned to love the country in many ways, not least through his stomach.’
–Samanth Subramanian, author of Following Fish: Travels Around the Indian Coast
‘With his trademark humour, Zac O’Yeah delves deep into the underbelly of the country that he loves. Digesting India is a rollicking read.’
–Shoba Narayan, author of foodie books and gourmet journalist
Senaste boken på svenska:
"Den tropiske detektiven"
"TROPICAL DETECTIVE"
- the third novel in the bestselling
Mr. Majestic Trilogy!
"Hari Majestic, immensely likeable, perennially in trouble, brings his understanding, affectionate gaze to everyone who crosses his path, even if they might wish him harm. Zac O’Yeah’s crime fiction is entertaining and endearing, as is his protagonist."
- Lavanya Sankaran, author of The Red Carpet and The Hope Factory
From the reviews:
Times of India: “Given how Hari’s adventures have always transpired, readers should know by now that the story unfolds in the most peculiar fashion with plot twists and encounters so funny, one has to pause while reading to laugh. Zac’s third book in the Hari Majestic series once again proves how well he understands the Indian reader’s sentiment and he must be credited for tickling their funny bones as well.”
The Hindu: “A unique combination of noir and juvenile humour, with large doses of social commentary mixed in. This one delivers on that count. And one hopes there will be more.”
Scroll: “Detective Hari Majestic is back. And he’s as over the top as ever.”
New Asian Writing: “You cannot put it down once you start reading it. There is never a dull moment with Hari and his sometimes desperate, over the top manoeuvres result in a laugh riot. This is a book worth reading and will appeal to everybody.”
Frontline Magazine: “Apart from making a valuable addition to the genre of crime fiction, Zac has also made Bengaluru the centrepiece in his stories. His observations of the city are bang on.”
The New Indian Express: “His ability to weave humour into everything has the same relentlessness that his character has when solving cases. The most fully fleshed out character in the book is the city of Bengaluru itself, everything from run-ins at KG Road to BMTC buses, the smells of the city waft off of the pages. Tropical Detective comes from this special place of love and unabated laughter.”
Deccan Chronicle: “The Hari Majestic series has given Bengaluru the first piece of literature that is entirely its own.”
Previous Title!
If you haven't read it, you haven't lived life!
(Published by PanMacmillan)
Den tredje romanen i Majestictrilogin!
"Varje passage i denna färgsprakande berättelse ger anledning till flabb och eftertanke på samma gång. Trots den vid första påseendet barocka skildringen rör sig O’Yeah mycket nära gränsen till verkligheten när det gäller både miljöer och karaktärsteckningar, och det så skickligt att jag allt som oftast kommer på mig själv med att sätta skrattet i halsen."
Carin Gerhardsen, författare till Hammarbyserien
RECENSIONER:
"Zac O'Yeah skriver mer utflippat än någonsin." -
Smålandsposten
"Zac O'Yeah lyckas skildra svensk-indiska kulturkrockar ur ett indiskt perspektiv." - Blekinge Läns Tidning
"Jag ler och skrattar mig igenom varje sida, rad och formulering." - Ystads Allehanda
"Genre: hårdkokt burlesk. Snacka om kulturkrock!" - Kristianstadsbladet
"...när Zac O'Yeah skildrar Göteborg med indiska ögon, blir det tokigt på allvar" - Borås Tidning
"...hård och tuff..." - Barometern
"Göteborg möter Bangalore i osannolik mix" - Göteborgs-Posten
"Geografin i Den tropiske detektiven är vid och Hari förflyttar sig på scooter, med flyg och på apostlahästar i plastsandaler. Historien är fartfylld med optimism som drivkraft. --- Romanen är en satirisk pikareskroman i nutid och till formen lik Candide eller Optimismen, Voltaires idéroman från 1759. --- Jag får vibbar av J Jonassons Hundraåringen som klev ut genom fönstret och försvann. Gillar man travestier på ”vi lever i den bästa av världar” kan man njuta fullt ut av Den tropiske detektiven." - DAST Magazine
!!!
FÖRRA SUCCÉBOKEN:
"Operation: Operation"
(Ordfront förlag, 2015)
En helt fräsch Mr. Majestic-bok...
uppföljaren till bästsäljande
"Operation: Sandalwood" är en
en tokrolig orientalisk medicinsk thriller med undertoner av exotisk-komisk detektivroman...
och ett totalsjukt uppdrag för världens bästa detektiv!
Detective fiction unlike any kind of detective fiction ever written before!
The Hindu
Exuding raw energy, drawing upon the essence of the city... more than once, the plot will remind one of South Indian as well as Bollywood films... manages to maintain the balance between humour, often dark, and the taut stretching of dangerous situations!
The Pioneer
A spicy medical thriller!
Business Standard
Apart from Hari and his friends, Bengaluru is very much a character in the book, as full of attitude as all the others!
The Statesman
O’Yeah brings to this book (the second of the Hari Majestic series) all the larger-than-life pep and total unbelievability of a desi crime thriller. And puts a twist in it, every step of the way!
The Sunday Standard
This is a book that doesn’t take itself seriously—and succeeds, therefore, in pulling off a stunt Mr Majestic would be proud of: it’s snazzy, jazzy, pizzazzy, all things irreverent.
New Indian Express
Hari is a symbol of the coming of age of Indian crime fiction in English!
Firstpost
The author’s writing prowess deserves a round of applause, so does his felicity with spicy names. The plots are racy and the characterisation spot-on...
The Tribune
The machinations and trappings of the delightfully over-the-top Hari remind you of Kannada potboilers… it seems Indian crime fiction has finally dusted off the proverbial chip on its shoulder and arrived at a comfortable equanimity with its place in the canon. And that place is firmly desi!
Bangalore Mirror
Comic masterpiece... a brilliant comedy of manners... the book is a joy to read, because of O’Yeah’s sparkling prose peppered with wit and dollops of observational humour!
Sakaal Times
Had me rolling on the floor laughing!
The Asian Age
(If you can not find it in the nextdoor bookshop,
click this link to have it delivered
anywhere in the world
and almost for free. )
Currently number 5 on the
top 15 bestselling list
at Sapna Bookstores!
Omslag Elina Grandin
"Man kan inte annat än att älska denna Hari Majestic. Han har ett hjärta av guld, men hans arbetsmetoder är allt annat än ortodoxa... Förutom det humoristiska är bokens styrka de indiska miljöerna. Det doftar Indien, det känns Indien – ja, det till och med låter Indien. Så närvarande är miljöskildringarna."
Nisse Scherman, DAST
"En efterlängtad rolig uppföljning på Operation Sandalwood."
BTJ
"Roligt? Ja, mer än så: heltokigt. Slutet är oväntat också."
Borås Tidning
"underhållande lektyr... svindlande äventyr i kontrasternas Bangalore... Här är allting möjligt... O’Yeah är som vanligt en underhållande guide som rör sig hemtamt i Bangalores gränder och i karaktärernas vardag."
Uppsala Nya Tidning
"Hybrid av politisk satir och vitsig kiosklitteratur!"
Göteborgs-Posten
"Infallen, tempot och den drastiska berättartekniken gör att man lätt dras med i den virvlande intrigen."
Dala-Demokraten
Går att köpa i varenda bokhandel värd sitt namn!
Eller få den hemkörd gratis genom att klicka här!
Eller klicka nedan för att se filmen:
Omslag Anna Harvard
"En underbar bok. Jag läser den som en kärleksförklaring till en av världens mest mångfasetterade, inspirerande och mänskliga kulturer: den indiska."
Aftonbladet
"Aldrig har en så osannolik deckarhjälte sett dagens ljus som Hari Majestic i Zac O’Yeahs Operation Sandalwood. Möjligen har Hari Majestic en anfader i Dashiell Hammetts Sam Spade, eller är han rentav en reinkarnation av Raymond Chandlers hårdkokte hjälte Philip Marlowe? --- Zac O’Yeahs prosa är närmast psykedelisk och rasande rolig, man sugs in i en ohejdad rabelaisk eskapism som man aldrig vill ska ta slut."
Dala-Demokraten
"Så mycket längre bort från Kurt Wallanders Ystad än Hari Majestics Bangalore kan man knappast komma. Det är med andra ord en frisk fläkt som blåser in över det svenska deckarlandskapet när Zac O’Yeah introducerar sin hjälte i första delen av vad som ska bli en serie om nämnde Mr Majestic."
Corren
"För mig är det alltid ett stort plus om man skrattar högt när man läser en bok, och det gör jag många gånger. Författaren är så rik på absurda idéer att han nästan aldrig stannar upp och kommenterar dem, vilket boken vinner på."
Hufvudstadsbladet
"Hetsande roligt. Lite groteskt emellanåt,"
Kjell E Genberg, DAST
Also, read the prequel,
currently number 3
on the top 15 list above:
now also available in paperback!
Sånt som händer i riksdagen då och då:
Statsminister Fredrik Reinfeldt: ”När vi tänkte på vad vi möjligen skulle ge dig för någon enkel gåva, så har vi noterat att du har ett intresse för att powerwalka, och det tänkte vi att man kan väl göra samtidigt som man lyssnar på en god bok, och därför har vi laddat en iPod med en ljudbok om Mahatma... Gandhi, alltså, som heter ”Eller konsten att vända världen upp och ner”. Och det har du bidragit till att göra och därför tänkte vi att det kan vara en bra sak att också ge dig som tack för alla dessa år.”
Mona Sahlin, avgående oppositionsledare: ”Jag tackar för både orden och jag tackar för den här presenten. Jag har inte läst den, men jag tror att det är många som behöver lära sig hur man vänder upp och ner på världen. Kanske också statsministern själv?”
- nu ute i pocket!
(New cover by Aparajita Ninan & Haitenlo Semy)
(Original hardcover artwork by Paul Fernandes)
"Zac O'Yeah's crime fiction is quirky, amusing and teeming with unforgettable characters. A deliciously waggish take on modern India with all its idiosyncrasies and complexities." –Tarquin Hall, author of the Vish Puri series
"Among the many genre pleasures of Mr Majestic: The Tout of Bengaluru is a redolently pulpy Indian thriller that doubles as authentic Bangalore noir. Zac O'Yeah and Hari Majestic - local firang pulpmeister and international local detective – arrive on the scene of the crime to give us an amusing, zippy, suspenseful mystery that will have you properly sandalwooded and Bangalored, Majestic style." – Pradeep Sebastian, author of The Groaning Shelf and Other Instances of Book Love
"Delightful!" Daily Mail
"Your brain will be sharpened, and your gut ought to enjoy the roller-coaster ride." Timeout Magazine
"If you enjoy psychedelic writing, with lashings of humour and a satisfying whodunnit all rolled in one, yep, this could be the book for you." Postnoon
"It’s a narrative so filmi, you almost expect a song-and-dance sequence. A trip worth taking." The Indian Express
"O'Yeah's slick prose makes for a racy read, an ideal pick-me-up to relieve the tedium of a long journey or miserably hot summer afternoon. But the real fun lies in discovering that Mr. Majestic is an authentic Indian thriller, rather than a Western prototype shoehorned into an Indian setting." The Hindu Literary Review
"Gloriously, unabashedly Technicolor with full-on frontal lighting, over-the-top escapades and sheer joy seeping out of every frame... A novel that’s not quite like anything done before in the English language." Outlook Magazine
Mr. Majestic! The Tout of Bengaluru...is available in a bookshop near you!
Follow Mr. Majestic online.
Once Upon A Time In Scandinavistan!
Omslag Jens Magnusson (klicka för att se förstorad bild).
En spänningsroman om globala konspirationer som utspelar sig någonstans i Mellanöstern - fast trots sin thrillerartade form, är detta en meditation över krig. Läs mer
Det är lördag eftermiddag. En svensk ambassad. Kontorsarbetet avbryts av ett brådskande telefonsamtal. En turist är skjuten. Diplomaten Kärstin Mordell beger sig ut på ett vanskligt räddningsuppdrag i ett bergsområde där terroristnästen och flyktingläger existerar sida vid sida. --- Sju veckor tidigare har en bombattack resulterat i att en krigskorrespondent blivit ihjälsprängd. Var det en olyckshändelse eller hade han kommit något på spåren? Hans unge brittiske kollega O’Guffin, den brittiska arbetarklassens svar på Noam Chomsky, tvingas fly för sitt liv efter att ha rotat i mysteriet. --- Under tiden flyttar ett svenskt biståndsarbetarpar till en bergsby i gränstrakterna mellan krigets helvete och paradiset på jorden. Men vem är deras mystiske granne? Alla trådar löper i en skrämmande riktning. Ett tredje världskrig. Vem kan hejda världens undergång?
”O’Yeah är ett skrivande fenomen med en ovanlig talang för de mest olika genrer.”
Göteborgs-Posten
”Att språkvirtuosen Zac O’Yeahs författarskap är så brett och rikt att det rymmer både tung politisk analys, viktig historieskrivning och romaner som i all sin briljanta tramsighet får en att skratta högt är bara att applådera.”
Helsingborgs Dagblad
”Om Guru och Mahatma! visade oss världen, så visar Summan av kardemumman att så här vilt och fräckt kan man skriva. Zac O’Yeah är en ny Povel, en ny Tage, en ny Babben, fast mycket, mycket värre.”
Hudiksvalls Tidning/Dalarnas Tidningar
Ny utgåva av debutromanen PAJAZZO från 1997!
On top-ten sales lists! Best position so far #3!
Praise for the novel:
Zac O’Yeah, who seems to possess unerring comic pitch as well as a sharp social vision, pulls off a charming conceit In Once Upon a Time in Scandinavistan.
Pankaj Mishra, author of “Temptations of the West”
Who knew that the ultimate manifestation of ‘Swadeshi’ would be ‘Swedishi’? Zac O’Yeah’s detective novel, set in a Sweden taken over by India, shows us why and how. In giving us a comic and suspenseful story that reimagines the relationship between east and west in utterly new terms, Once Upon a Time in Scandinavistan hustles its way onto the small shelf occupied by such counterfactual classics as Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle and Michael Chabon’s The Yiddish Policemen’s Union.
Siddhartha Deb, author of “The Point of Return”
Uncanny, and original, and always funny. At first glance, Zac O’Yeah’s new novel seems to be about Stieg Larsson coming to India. But then you spot other clues. This thriller isn’t even about Europe being colonized by Indians. This is a sly, remarkable book about the death of the present, and the future that is already here.
Amitava Kumar, author of “Home Products”
And as the pages keep turning, it becomes clear to the reader that the social narrative of the city is as important to the tale as the solution of the crime itself. O'Yeah's first work of fiction is a brilliant English debut. It plays on the sensibilities of the reader, making sure he or she blinks hard while reading about this strange world.
And as the pages keep turning, it becomes clear to the reader that the social narrative of the city is as important to the tale as the solution of the crime itself. O'Yeah's first work of fiction is a brilliant English debut. It plays on the sensibilities of the reader, making sure he or she blinks hard while reading about this strange world.
The Kathmandu Post
Though likely to be compared with Nordic noir such as the work of Stieg Larsson and Henning Mankell, this is closer in its antic spirit to the environmental thrillers of Carl Hiaasen, with his deranged characters running amok over Florida swamplands. Once Upon a Time in Scandinavistan, then, is audacious in conception and has much brio in narration.
Though likely to be compared with Nordic noir such as the work of Stieg Larsson and Henning Mankell, this is closer in its antic spirit to the environmental thrillers of Carl Hiaasen, with his deranged characters running amok over Florida swamplands. Once Upon a Time in Scandinavistan, then, is audacious in conception and has much brio in narration.
The Sunday Guardian
The Sunday Guardian
O'Yeah makes an important revision to the stark hard-boiled story by creating an oddly loveable protagonist, who falls so swiftly and trustingly in love with the ex-Miss Bihar Kumkum, you want to cheer. Consider Once Upon a Time in Scandinavistan a real-time personal reading laboratory to observe the joys of genre fiction: it is not culturally offkey, so we nod in recognition, but it is suitably inauthentic, so we are not bored.
Tehelka Magazine
I'm usually reluctant to compile year-end lists of my favourite reads, but if I had to list my favourite fictional characters from 2010, Herman Barsk - the detective protagonist of Zac O'Yeah's Once Upon a Time in Scandinavistan - would be near the top. Barsk is the antithesis of the "hardboiled", charismatically world-weary noir hero.
I'm usually reluctant to compile year-end lists of my favourite reads, but if I had to list my favourite fictional characters from 2010, Herman Barsk - the detective protagonist of Zac O'Yeah's Once Upon a Time in Scandinavistan - would be near the top. Barsk is the antithesis of the "hardboiled", charismatically world-weary noir hero.
Jai Arjun Singh's 'Wordsmith' column
Wondrously wacky writer.
Mid-Day Newspaper
If you were drawing up a map of crime fiction, the bleak, snow-bitten landscape of Sweden would have to be on it, as much as John Rebus’s sour Edinburgh or 221B Baker Street. Here, a girl with a dragon tattoo kicks hornet’s nests and killers into submission, and detective Kurt Wallander battles his personal demons as he investigates another murder in Ystad. Zac O’Yeah’s Once Upon a Time in Scandinavistan reconfigures this geography with audacity.
The Indian Express
The Indian Express
This book is subtitled “A crime novel”, but few which claim the name achieve all its resonances. Most such books do less than they aver; this is one of the few I have read which does more than it claims without, in fact, fulfilling all the tenets of a crime novel. --- O'Yeah's characterisations are brilliant… his wit is sufficient to enliven a dull day.
The Hindu Literary Review
…wit, style and that wonderful, cinematic obsession with detail you’ve been missing in novels lately. --- There are enough plot twists and romantic encounters that healthy, turn-the-page crime novels are the stuff of, and the socio-political comment, inherent to dystopic visions, makes it presence felt too, in all its bite. Cater to your what-happens-next instinct, and the one that demands smart, kick-ass futuristic prophecies.
First City Magazine
Hon ber mig berätta någonting om mig själv.
Varför, frågar jag.
Jag håller på att skriva en pjäs, säger hon. Och om jag får skulle jag vilja ha dej som en karaktär i den.
Vad ska du göra med den pjäsen? frågar jag, men jag ser i hennes förfrågan en möjlighet att träffa henne ofta. Fast jag måste förbereda dej på att ingenting intressant nånsin händer i mitt liv.
Prat, säger hon, nånting intressant händer i alla liv. Det gäller bara att se det.
Pajazzo är Zac O’Yeahs första roman från 1997, om en ambitiös kvinnlig dramatiker som försöker att bena ut den mörka berättelsen om två mystiska män – berättaren, som själv är ett psykiskt haveri, och som träffar på en konstig, beväpnad gubbe. Läs mer!
“...märkvärdig debutroman...”
Göteborgs-Posten
”...en hoppingivande debut...”
Sydsvenskan
”... ett gränsöverskridande mellan verklighet och fiktion.”
Btj
”Gripande vore kanske rätt omdöme, men det känns banalt i sammanhanget.”
Västerviks-Tidningen
Eller låna den från biblioteket!
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