Literary Career
A fine arts major, Diamond turned to professional writing in his late twenties is best known for books such as The Haven, Lady of the Haven, The Thief of Kalimar, Black Midnight, Forest Wars, Marrakesh, Samarkand, and Samarkand Dawn. He soon turned to other genres; including historical fiction, thrillers, and later a true story of a Holocaust survivor's family during World War II, Maybe You Will Survive. Several of his books were published in the UK by Methuen.
Under the pen name Rochelle Leslie (the names of his two daughters), he authored Tears of Passion, Tears of Shame, a novel of South Africa set during the Zulu War of 1879 (Berkeley/Jove) which was subsequently published in Italy, titled, Venuto De Lontano, (To Come From Far Away) by Mondadori. He also has had various short stories published in anthologies. His latest book, Chocolate Lenin, was released in 2012. It is speculative fiction, a well received satire/fantasy of near-future Russia, parodying contemporary science, technology, and politics.
Review of Chocolate Lenin by Jacqueline Lichtenberg, 5.0 out of 5 stars, Amazon. By Jacqueline "sf/f writer" (United States) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) This review is from: Chocolate Lenin: A Novel (Paperback)
One of the strangest books you'll ever read, May 17, 2012
It's very hard to categorize this book, which is part of its ridiculous charm. If you know all about the historical figure Lenin and his relationship to Stalin, and at least some of how Russia came to be what it is today, and if you take all that reality-history seriously, this book could well keep you in stitches all night.
This is a novel that requires the reader to have some depth of context to understand and appreciate how it's a take-off on our current reality. If you've never heard of Lenin, this just isn't going to get to you the same way.
We argue and even rage over political matters, but make no progress. That may well be because we just can't laugh at ourselves hard enough to gain perspective. This novel might restore perspective and let some progress be made.
Chocolate Lenin postulates a "what-if" of the typical science fiction novel - what if someone cloned Lenin? What if the clone woke up and started walking around, being spotted, reported....
What if those who funded the project had their delusions of power-grabbing thwarted by a scientist who taunted them by stealing all the research data and scattering it to the winds, creating a puzzle it would take a super-genius to solve?
I can just imagine how much fun Graham Diamond had writing this book!
Review is for: Chocolate Lenin: A Novel (Paperback) Jerelle Kraus, Author, "All The Art That's Fit to Print (And Some That Wasn't): Inside The New York Times Op-Ed Page" 5.0 out of 5 stars I recommend Graham Diamond's novels., April 13, 20
"Graham Diamond is a wit, a careful researcher, & a skilled, entertaining writing stylist. You'll enjoy all these qualities in his latest novel, Chocolate Lenin. But you'll soon forget the writing craft & be swept along in a compelling, convincing, captivating tale, just one of his 18 books. You can't go wrong by picking up any or all of these gleaming Diamonds."Read more about this topic: Graham Diamond
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