Gods' Wine

The experimental approach to marketing exploits the zeitgeist’s hunger for outrage. The plot spans 3000 years of history, but most action takes place in the three years before the end of the last millennium. The theme is Lust, the arena the dilapidated post-Communist Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean. Philistines who don’t appreciate good wine will be offended, and meticulous historical accuracy will certainly annoy literary purists: it’s not even fiction. Liberal doses of political incorrectness, blasphemy and smut combine with trenchant critiques of all political persuasions to guarantee everyone will be offended somewhere … except perhaps the Nazis. They seem to get a free ride. Feminist and sexists, misogynists and misandrists all have something to seethe about. The risky approach could either go viral or sink like a stone. But the author has done a Salman Rushdie and hidden himself away already, in anticipation of the former. So if outrage is your thing, grit your teeth and enjoy.