In 2015, Venture Press, Ltd.(a subsidiary of Endeavour Books) in the UK contracted seven of Graham Diamond's novels for digital e-book publication available around the world. All titles were released autumn, 2015.
Titles include:
THE HAVEN, SAMARKAND, SAMARKAND DAWN, LADY OF THE HAVEN, DUNGEONS OF KUBA, THE FALCON OF EDEN, and BEASTS OF HADES.
In 2016 Endeavour Press UK, parent company of Venture Press, contracted two more novels for mainstream fiction, thriller, and historical books. BLACK MIDNIGHT, a tale of a terrorist on the loose in New York City; and CRY FOR FREEDOM, a novel of South Africa's struggle for freedom set during the Zulu War of 1879.
In August 2017, FOREST WARS The Expanded Epic Saga was released.
Also in 2017, the acclaimed Holocaust Memoir, MAYBE YOU WILL SURVIVE was contracted and released. The true story of Aron Goldfarb, as told to Graham Diamond.
Venture Press soon followed by issuing boxed sets of many of Graham Diamond's works;
The 4 volume EMPIRE PRINCESS set; the two volume SAMARKAND set, the two volume MARRAKESH SET.
In total 17 of Graham Diamond's best known works have been made available worldwide through digital editions in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and across the world.
Graham Diamond's cult classic, THE HAVEN was also previously reissued in 2013 in trade paperback. FOREST WARS quickly followed.
Graham Diamond's CHOCOLATE LENIN was published in 2012.
The plot of CHOCOLATE LENIN involves a crazed scientist in a chocolate factory recreating Lenin and restoring him to life. An elite but very quirky security team is formed to stop a new revolution from creating worldwide pandemonium.
More information about Graham Diamond can be found here.
A REVIEW OF GRAHAM DIAMOND'S CHOCOLATE LENIN
ISBN-13: 978-0615594033.
Writing satirical speculative fiction can be a bit difficult, but fortunately there are authors who can write it and Graham Diamond seems to be one of these authors. Graham Diamond writes fluently and engagingly about different subjects from politics to social situations. I'm sure that the author's zany humour will delight readers.
Chocolate Lenin is an interesting satire/fantasy/thriller set in the near-future Russia. It blends science fiction, adventure and thriller genres in an entertaining way (it's difficult to combine these different genres, but in this case everything works perfectly). It's a story about how a crazy scientist manages to recreate Lenin and what happens afterwards, when a special group tries to control things and stop a new revolution from happening. Chocolate Lenin is a humorous and different kind of a book, because Graham Diamond has a slightly twisted sense of humour.
Here's a bit of information about some of the characters and my thoughts about them:
Vladimir (Vlad) Petrovsky works hard to get everything ready for the eagerly anticipated constitutional celebration of the democratic New Russian Federation. He has problems with his wife, because he works too hard.
Boris Sokolov is an older man who tells Vlad about Dr. Mikhail Sunavich's work etc and asks Vlad's help. Boris and Vlad are old acquaintances (Boris has provided Vlad information on several government projects).
Rabbi Asher Isaac Titlebaum is a physicist, who became a rabbi. He's a fascinating character.
Alina Vera Galina is a scientist who has worked with Mikhail Sunavich and Asher Isaac Titlebaum. She's an interesting character, because she seems to be a bit reserved and suspicious about people around her.
The American man, Floyd Dingus, is also an interesting character. He works for the Department of Agriculture and is sent to check the factory.
Madam Zaza, the psychic, is also quite a character. Her brief appearance was memorable.
The recreated Lenin is a fascinating character, because he has the same political views as the original Lenin. He's just a bit different because he isn't actually quite human.
The author has created believable and three-dimensional characters who have their own problems and motives, so the character development works nicely and supports the story. I especially liked the way the author wrote about Vlad's life. I also enjoyed reading about the relationship between Alina Vera and Vlad. The author handled it exceptionally well, because Alina Vera and Vlad were strangers when they met, but gradually they began to trust each other as well as they could.
The members of the special group are different from each other (some are quite quirky), but they all have to work together in order to succeed in their mission, so there's tension between them. This adds depth to the story.
Character interaction is good and the dialogues are believable (certain dialogues are a bit over-the-top, but that's a good thing, because this is a satirical book). The story flows nicely and it's difficult to stop reading it, because the author has several funny surprises in store for the reader.
There are several funny and memorable scenes in this book. For example, it was interesting to read about Ivan Pushkin's (a factory worker) encounter with the new Lenin. It was also delightful to read how the new Lenin had trouble getting out of the city and how he talked to strangers. The new Lenin's speeches were very interesting and amusing, because he spoke with heartfelt passion to his comrades. The conversations of the members of the special group were also entertaining (as an example I can mention that it was difficult not to laugh out loud when the members talked about the new Lenin's life force formulae).
I'm glad I had a chance to read Chocolate Lenin, because I enjoyed it. It was a nice surprise - the story fascinated me and I had to find out what happens at the end of the book. This book appealed to my sense of humour, because I've always liked good satirical fiction. It also made me want to read more books by Graham Diamond, because he seems to be a talented author (I'll try to read more of his books in the near future).
Chocolate Lenin is a unique and satirical look at Russian society, culture, media, life and politics. People who are familiar with Russian history and Russian way of life will probably get the most out of this book, but other readers will also like it, because the author writes fluently about the events (if you're not familiar with Russian history and Lenin etc, you may want to read this article). If you're interested in satirical speculative fiction and want to read something different, Chocolate Lenin is a fantastic book for you. This book can also be recommended to readers who aren't familiar with speculative fiction, because it will without a doubt appeal to readers who are interested in satirical and humorous books.
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Graham Diamond began writing as a fantasy and science fiction author. He was born in Manchester, England. His family moved to the United States when he was a young child, and he was raised in New York City. He graduated from the High School of Music and Art, then attended CCNY as a Fine Arts major and the Art Students League of New York.
Diamond turned to professional writing in his late twenties and is best known for books such as The Haven, Lady of the Haven, The Thief of Kalimar , Black Midnight, and Forest Wars, Marrakesh, Samarkand, Samarkand Dawn. He soon turned to other genres; including historical fiction, thrillers, and later the true story of a Holocaust survivor's family during World War II, Maybe You Will Survive (Holocaust Press, 1991). Several of his books were published in the UK by Methuen, and In Italy by Mondadori.
Under the pen name Rochelle Leslie (the names of his daughters), he authored Tears of Passion, Tears of Shame, a fascinating novel of South Africa set during the Zulu War of 1879, subsequently published in Italy, retitled, Venuto De Lontano, (To Come From Far Away) . He also has had various short stories published in anthologies. In addition to his writing, he was employed as an editorial artist and production manager by the New York Times for many years, and taught creative writing in both New York and California. He regularly volunteers and lectures across the United States. "So much of my youth was spent studying in libraries," he says, "they became almost a second home."
A number of other novels, beginning with Forest Wars, The Thief of Kalimar, Captain Sinbad, Lady of the Haven, and Black Midnight, were reissued and remain available.
Diamond divides him time between California and New York. He is currently working on another novel.
Additional bibliography
* Captain Sinbad (Fawcett)
* Cinnebar (Fawcett)
* Marrakesh Nights (Fawcett)
* The Falcon of Eden (Playboy)
* Beasts of Hades (Playboy)
* Outcasts (DAW anthology)
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