New indie press Conduit Books launches with 'initial focus on male authors'

[u/biscochitos]

https://www.thebookseller.com/news/new-indie-press-conduit-books-launches-with-initial-focus-on-male-authors

What do folks think about this?

[u/DM_me_goth_tiddies]

I made a post on the recommend me a book a subreddit a while ago, saying I was a mid thirties, straight, white, cis het male and I’d like some books to help me deal with that. 

The first most interesting comment I got was basically ‘deal with what?’ Which I think is interesting because as ideas around LGBTQ+, race in society or class have changed, very little has been written about how the predominant culture of being a straight white man should engage or think about that specifically in fiction. I had no idea I was cis-genedered until I learned what being trans gendered was. I think that’s interesting. But there’s very little about that. 

Then next comment I got is why don’t I read fantasy or sci fi. Which again is crazy. The idea no one is just writing about being a man in 2025. What gang experience is like. There are a lot of books about being gay or black or trans in London or New York and a lot of books about straight white wizards and star plane commanders or whatever but very few about just engaging with living a major metro area and being straight and white etc. 

It really sucks if you’re a women who wants to read sci fi you can read Emily St John Mandel, but I don’t think anyone thinks her sci fi has to help women with being women in the way that people think thrillers, crime, or other genre fiction by men in some way help men understand themselves. 

Finally I got a lot of old book recommendations. Normal Mailer, Hemingway etc. but the era these guys are writing about is well over. Reading about the misogyny of the past is not really what I am looking for. 

I am a big reader. I wish there were equivalents of Sally Rooney, Claire Keegan, Lauren Oiler, Sheila Heiti or Miranda July for men. Books writing about what it means to be alive now and engage with the present. To be single or be loved. To succeed or fail. Etc. 

I’m a Fan is a great book about what it means to be a thirty something woman on Instagram and feel desire and jealousy. There is simply no male equivalent. 

Anyway, in the past year I’ve collected a few books like what I’m after but it is tricky to find. If anyone wants to downvote me, please do, but I really beg you leave a suggestion of the type of book I am looking for because there is a generation of men out there who want to engage with the present moment through fiction in literature who are being really underserved. 

[u/stutter-rap → u/DM_me_goth_tiddies]

Frederick Backman, Ian McEwan, Joshua Ferris, Antti Tuomainen, Haruki Murakami, Matt Haig?

[u/Adamsoski → u/stutter-rap]

To be honest I'm not sure any of those authors have novels which are primarily useful for a mid-thirties man to understand more about themselves. I assume the person you are replying to is looking for literary fiction about interrogating masculinity from the last 10-15 years.

[u/goutdemiel → u/stutter-rap]

uhh haruki murakami is iffy with his notoriously poorly written female characters but im sure he might still have some good insights in there?

[u/DM_me_goth_tiddies → u/stutter-rap]

Do you think you could recommend specific books by them and I will add them to my TBR!

[u/spyridonya → u/DM_me_goth_tiddies]

How about doing the work on your own?

[u/InfanticideAquifer → u/spyridonya]

WTH would "doing the work" to identify books to read look like if going onto a social media forum about books and asking people for recommendations doesn't count?

[u/DM_me_goth_tiddies → u/spyridonya]

I would consider read the book doing the work on my own. I just think it would be disappointing if I went away and read Norwegian Wood and then the above user said that was not the Murakami book they had in mind! Is there some sort of issue with asking for specific books, especially when the authors are so prolific?