Twenty-Six Lies/One Truth
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
twenty-six lies/one truth, "an autobiography by a man who has been nowhere, done nothing, and met nobody", was written by Australian speculative fiction writer Ben Peek. Printed in 2006, it was published by US Publisher Wheatland Press.
In the 'novel', Ben Peek explores the nature of truth and literary hoaxes. Developed from a posing on Peek's blog, the book has an unusual structure told through a series of encyclopedia-like entries ordered by letter. The major narrative is told as a series of dialogues, apparently between the author and his girlfriend. Interdispersed with this are blog-style comments on famous literary hoaxes, politics and culture, plus autobiographical segments which apparently trace the author’s life history. A comic by Australian artist Anna Brown also runs through the novel, augmenting the major narrative.
Authors and hoaxes discussed by Peek include Octavia Butler, Helen Demidenko/Darville, George Eliot, James Frey, Graham Greene, Ross Gibson, Laura Albert, Norma Khouri, Rahila Khan, Arthur Koestler, Konrad Kujau, Martha Sherrill, Lewis Carroll, Fiona Macleod, Ern Malley, George Orwell, Anne Perry, George Psalmanazar, George Turner, James Tiptree Jr, Kurt Vonnegut and Araki Yasusada.
Peek also writes about several bands including A Silver Mt Zion, Beasts of Bourbon, The Jesus and Mary Chain and Joy Division.
The cover art was produced by Andrew Macrae, hand typed on a manual typewriter.[1]
twenty-six lies/one truth was included in Jeff VanderMeer's 'Twelve Overlooked Books' feature [2] published in online for Locus Magazine in January 2007.