Le French Book Unveils Complete Collection of Short Stories by Top Writers

Digital-first publisher Le French Book just released the full collection of 52 Serial Shorts, 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. This unlikely combination of French literary giants includes two Goncourt prizewinners and one of France's most-read authors.

Here, they got together to play a collaborative writing game that resulted a unique study in the creative process, with 52 playful and often just plain wacky seven-author stories. One reviewer describes them as "the strangest and most uniquely clever short stories that highlight each author's particular talents as they amuse, confound and delight readers... Think Salvador Dali or André Breton, and you have a reference point for the delights found within these little tales. And they are perfectly suited when you only have a short time to read and need that quick diversion."

The collaborative writing game, called cadavres exquis (or, literally, delicious corpses), came from the French surrealists, and consists of one writer starting a story and passing it on to the next, who continues and passes it on to the following, and so forth. Being cheeky and brilliant, these writers set traps for each other, and yet maintain the rigor of short story writing, building characters quickly and plots that wrap up no matter how oddly, with just the right details to transport readers to the most unexpected places.

Le French Book initially released 52 Serial Shorts in four-story batches as 99-cent ebooks. Now, the entire collection of 52 stories is available for $9.99 on Kindle, and through the Kindle Lending Library for Prime users.

For Le French Book's founder Anne Trager, this collection of short stories "embodies the very vibrant, creative world in France that we are set to make available in English. It's also a hilarious peek into the minds of some very fine writers, and an entertaining way to prepare for the upcoming French literary prize season in fall."

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 book
52 Serial Shorts by Harold Cobert, Irène Frain, Christine Orban, Daniel Picouly, Yann Queffélec, Tatiana De Rosnay, Didier Van Cauwelaert; translated by Anne Trager-published by Le French Book-First published in French (52 cadavres exquis, by Play Bac Paris)-Direct-to-digital translation; ebook exclusive-ISBN: 9781939474698

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

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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