Osama (novel)
 Cover of Osama | |
| Author | Lavie Tidhar |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Alternate History, Metafiction |
| Publisher | PS Publishing |
Publication date | 2011 |
| Media type | Book |
Osama is a 2011 alternate history metafictional novel by Lavie Tidhar. It was first published by PS Publishing.
Synopsis[]
In a world without terrorism, a private detective is hired to locate Mike Longshott, the mysterious author of a popular series of novels about a fictional vigilante named "Osama bin Laden".
Reception[]
Osama won the 2012 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel.[1]
Publishers Weekly described it as "offbeat and enigmatic", but with "less than rigorous internal logic".[2]
The Guardian saw conceptual parallels to Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle, emphasizing that Tidhar's goal is to "show that behind every manufactured enemy, is a real human being".[3]
in Locus, Gary K. Wolfe observed that although Longshott is supposed to be a pulp fiction writer, the excerpts of Longshott's works (depicting various real-world instances of terrorism) "aren’t pulpish at all" but rather are "rendered in a crisp, journalistic prose" — unlike the rest of the novel, which is in a "deliberately pulp-noir style".[4] Strange Horizons noted the possibility that "the entire story may be little more than [the detective's] opium-induced hallucination."[5]
References[]
- ^ Lavie Tidhar's Osama wins World Fantasy Award, by Charlie Jane Anders, at Io9; published November 4, 2012; retrieved June 23, 2018
- ^ Osama, reviewed at Publishers Weekly; published March 3, 2011; retrieved June 23, 2018
- ^ The political possibilities of SF, by Damien Walter, in The Guardian; published October 11, 2011; retrieced June 23, 2018
- ^ Gary K. Wolfe reviews Lavie Tidhar, in Locus; published September 25, 2011; retrieved June 23, 2018
- ^ Osama by Lavie Tidhar, reviewed by Michael Levy; at Strange Horizons; published September 12, 2011; retrieved June 23, 2018
External links[]
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- Cultural depictions of Osama bin Laden
- Terrorism in fiction
- Metafictional novels
- World Fantasy Award for Best Novel-winning works
- Alternate history novels
- 2011 novels
- 2010s historical novel stubs
- Alternate history novel stubs
- 2010s speculative fiction novel stubs