Mysteries of Bowie and Other Oddities explores the ever-present tension between freedom and oppression and the desire to build a functional, sustainable world.
INSIDE ORWELL
George Orwell was a person of the Left, dedicated to fighting Communism, Fascism, imperialism, racism, and classism. This is the story of how Orwell became Orwell.
BOWIE AND THE BERLIN WALL
David Bowie’s connection to the Cold War and Berlin goes deeper than the legendary concert he played at the Wall or even the fact that his song “Heroes” was the anthem of divided Berlin. Bowie and the Berlin Wall takes a fresh look at Bowie’s impact on Berlin and the fall of the Wall.
THE MYSTERIES OF GAME THEORY
This mystery pits the Western need for freedom and transparency against a shadowy dictatorship that emerges post-pandemic. After two years in quarantine, James discovers it’s a zero-sum game when he must choose between his mysterious new love and his sister, who disappeared during the chaos before the lockdown that threatened to separate them forever.
VENICE TO VENICE
Brian’s opposition to the Iraq war ended his CIA career, but eleven years later he finds himself on the front lines of a new conflict, whose source is jarringly familiar. Venice to Venice captures the consequences of the rush to war as dark forces converge on the two Venice’s to destroy what they represent.
THE GEORGES
A white man experiences an all-encompassing rage after the murder of Trayvon Martin. His internal life is a powder keg, and his anger spills over to all the lies told about the Iraq War by the news media. He channels George Orwell in a search for understanding, as he draws sharp contrasts between George Zimmerman, George W. Bush, and George Orwell.
Beginning with “Inside Orwell,” a fictitious account of George Orwell's experience as a soldier of Republican Loyalist forces fighting against fascism during the Spanish Civil War, Raffetto offers a sweeping, illuminating collection of novellas examining war, the battle against oppression, and the power of art—the “Bowie” of the title is David. Raffetto writes an immersive and astute depiction of Orwell's time in Spain, saturated with political intricacies and factional infighting. The title novella tours readers through totalitarian tactics: suppression of dissent, control of media, distortion of truth, and propagation of lies. Raffetto champions standing up for truth, mirroring Orwell's perseverance in writing about his war experiences despite censorship, a defiance Raffetto persuasively links to the subversive nature of David Bowie's music, which likewise was banned under oppressive Kremlin leadership. Between the novellas, Raffetto offers an incisive essay on socio-political influences on the celebrated music of Bowie’s late-1970s Berlin era—when he lived in the divided city and recorded Low, “Heroes,” and Lodger—and Bowie’s concert at the Berlin Wall in 1987, not long before it fell. From the Spanish Civil War era to the post-pandemic present of “Mysteries of Game Theory,” where the internet is controlled by the government, Raffetto’s message rings out: peace cannot be born out of war. "There's no future or past in this world," Raffetto writes in “Venice to Venice,” a harrowing story of the U.S. and Iraq in the 2000s that deftly delineates the interconnected repercussions of war across decades.
The collection culminates with significant power in “The Georges”—as in Zimmerman, Bush, and Orwell. This searching, climactic entry, narrated in a numbed first person, challenges readers to consider their own stances on war and violence. Set in “the void created after the trigger has been pulled,” Raffetto’s work aims to unify, eradicate hate and racism, and commit to the truth, urging readers to choose wisely.
Takeaway: Essential read on the interconnectedness of war and the struggle for peace.
Comparable Titles: Katherine Reay’s The Berlin Letters, Will Mackin’s Bring Out the Dog.
Production grades
Cover: B
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A
