How the mind wanders idly in the country... Satan, Ferdinand, blows with the wild seed... Jesus walks on purple thorns but doesn't bend them... Jesus used to walk on troubled waters. In the light of the lantern we saw him there, all white, with long brown hair, standing in the curve of an emerald wave...
(Arthur Rimbaud, Night in Hell)
(Arthur Rimbaud, Night in Hell)
Some authors, in this desert that is contemporary literature — especially in the mainstream landscape — manage to stand out as an obscure form that is difficult to describe in a more or less uniform panorama. Such is the case of Karim Ghahwagi, whose inventive and visionary fiction throws the reader into a breathtaking whirlpool that is unlikely to be forgotten.
Civilian, the new novel by Karim Ghahwagi, is a deep dive into dense and unclear waters, into the darkest recesses of the human psyche. A chimerical, harrowing, ecstatic experience.
Set a few years in the future, the Behavioral Science departement of the FBI are on the threshold of fully implementing a new technology which enables access to the memories and sensations of the human mind. For almost a decade, a team of federal agents have developed and utilized the technology in their most challenging cases. Now they are confronted with their most perplexing case. A renowned child psychotherapist has kidnapped three of her own child trauma patients and hidden them away in an undisclosed location without food and water. The kidnapper will only reveal their locations on live national television but a few hours before this grand exposé, that person tries to commit suicide. With the kidnapper dying and unconscious, the secret locations of the three children was never revealed.
Aberrant pathologies and new technologies collide in this short novel of science fiction and horror.
Civilian, a numbered hardcover edition limited to 100 copies,170 x 240 mm (or 6.69 × 9.44 in.), illustrated, is already available for shipment from here (via PayPal), in 20 days, it would be available at our partner Ziesings.
Civilian, the new novel by Karim Ghahwagi, is a deep dive into dense and unclear waters, into the darkest recesses of the human psyche. A chimerical, harrowing, ecstatic experience.
Set a few years in the future, the Behavioral Science departement of the FBI are on the threshold of fully implementing a new technology which enables access to the memories and sensations of the human mind. For almost a decade, a team of federal agents have developed and utilized the technology in their most challenging cases. Now they are confronted with their most perplexing case. A renowned child psychotherapist has kidnapped three of her own child trauma patients and hidden them away in an undisclosed location without food and water. The kidnapper will only reveal their locations on live national television but a few hours before this grand exposé, that person tries to commit suicide. With the kidnapper dying and unconscious, the secret locations of the three children was never revealed.
Aberrant pathologies and new technologies collide in this short novel of science fiction and horror.
Civilian, a numbered hardcover edition limited to 100 copies,170 x 240 mm (or 6.69 × 9.44 in.), illustrated, is already available for shipment from here (via PayPal), in 20 days, it would be available at our partner Ziesings.
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Civilian + Mail expenses for all the world (USD 49.00)
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The opinion of our readers
Golden Age of Clairvoyance
"Well I have received the books today and I had certain high expectations and I must say such high expectations were well exceeded. The selectivity of the authors as I may have mentioned before (both individually and in combination) and translations are impeccable. The book design is exquisite and enhances the holistic reading experience (by way of comparison, on first seeing the books I had the same sense of elation when I had received my first Sylph Edition Cahiers a few years ago)."
(Andrew Condous)
(Andrew Condous)
"The books look really nice - I'm especially liking the full-color images inside. Very good design."
(Damian Murphy)
(Damian Murphy)
"The chapbooks are beautiful. Well done! Equally engaging for the eye and mind."
(Rachel Kinbar)
(Rachel Kinbar)
"The initial print-run of all three is, of course, low, so any interested readers should make a quick decision; because I do hope Raphus continue on their path of intriguing little translations of the recovered uncanny and esoteric."
(Mark Andresen at Pan Review)
(Mark Andresen at Pan Review)
The great weird and fantastic connoisseur, Des Lewis, made an insightful review of Black Mirror, the second chapbook in the series, available in this link.
Spiritual Meaning of the Massacres
"Many thanks for sending me a copy of The Mendicant. It really looks rather good – a bit like one of the books you read about in short stories that start off ‘Beware if you read these words... too late!"
(Stephen Cashmore)
(Stephen Cashmore)
"It's a marvelous production, and it's great that you have resurrected the remarkable title piece. I also enjoyed the pamphlet (...). Long may Raphus Press reign!"
(Chris Mikul)
(Chris Mikul)
"I am absolutely delighted with them [The Mendicant of the Books and The Sacred Abysmal Perspective]! They are both true examples of true and original creative philosophical ingenuity, originality and also design. They are fantastickal chapbooks and it is an equal delight to have been able to contribute and to assist in other ways. Although I saw the proofed editions when you e-mailed them to me, now that they are in my hands, they veritably glow and crackle and weep with their malign embers.
I shall take myself off on a sacred journey this weekend, like the early priests going to Tibet, and will immerse myself in the deep folds and ravines these chapbooks open up."
(Jonathan Wood)
I shall take myself off on a sacred journey this weekend, like the early priests going to Tibet, and will immerse myself in the deep folds and ravines these chapbooks open up."
(Jonathan Wood)
