48 ratings | 15 reviews | avg rating:4.10

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Brent Robison

Goodreads Author

Website

http://ultimate-indivisibility.com

Genre

Literature & Fiction, Mystery, Philosophy

Influences

Auster, Nabokov, Borges, Brautigan, Carver, Denis Johnson

Member Since

April 2008

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/brentrobison

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Brent Robison lives in the Catskill Mountains of New York. His fiction has appeared in over a dozen literary journals and several anthologies, and has won the Literal Latte Short Short Award, the Chronogram Short Fiction Contest, a Fiction Fellowship from the New Jersey Council on the Arts, and a Pushcart Prize nomination. His two novels, A Book with No Author and Ponckhockie Union, and his collection of linked short stories, The Principle of Ultimate Indivisibility, are available from booksellers everywhere. He blogs occasionally at http://ultimate-indivisibility.com, and co-hosts The Strange Recital, http://thestrangerecital.com, a twice-monthly podcast about fiction that questions the nature of reality. ...more

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Brent Robison’s books

Average rating: 4.38 · 68 ratings · 42 reviews · 9 distinct works • Similar authors

	Ponckhockie Union 4.69 avg rating — 26 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Other Face: Experiencing the Mask by Brent Robison (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Wendy Klein (Editor) 3.56 avg rating — 16 ratings — published 2003 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Book with No Author 4.70 avg rating — 10 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Principle of Ultimate Indivisibility 4.20 avg rating — 10 ratings — published 2009 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Confession of Love and Emptiness: A Story in Nine Pieces it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 2011	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Prima Materia Writings,Vol1, 2002 Truth X 24 (vol. 1) it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 2002	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Prima Materia writings - Volume 2, 2003 - Home Family and Other Mixed Blessings - Short Fiction by Writers from the Hudson Valley, New York it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 2003 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Prima Materia Volume 3: Stories We Tell Ourselves it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 2004	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Prima Materia Volume 4: Speeding Through the Night it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 2005 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Brent Robison…

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Brent Robison's Blog

Bend an Ear: Three Bits of a Book

Books are for reading. But sometimes books can be for listening, an odd form of reading that is almost like synesthesia. What does a circle taste like? What is the smell of blue? Spoken language is not at all the same thing as written language. When you listen to a book, squiggly abstract symbols do not crawl from the page into your ear cavities, yet you are triggered to imagine the scenes des Read more of this blog post »

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Published on August 08, 2025 14:04

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Brent is Currently Reading

Brent is currently reading

A Book with No Author

by Brent Robison (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: psychological-mystery, currently-reading

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Jan 08, 2024 01:00PM

Brent is currently reading

Seven Cries of Delight

by Tom Newton

bookshelves: currently-reading

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Brent said: " Seven Cries of Delight is not like most collections of literary short stories. As legions of MFA students busily workshop their childhood drama into market-friendly “realistic” fiction, Tom Newton has clearly been following a different muse. These st Seven Cries of Delight is not like most collections of literary short stories. As legions of MFA students busily workshop their childhood drama into market-friendly “realistic” fiction, Tom Newton has clearly been following a different muse. These stories (two dozen of them!) range widely in setting and imagery and allusion, but all are hung on a solid spine: a lively curiosity about the deeper, invisible nature of what we call reality. This curiosity is expressed as speculative imaginings and unharnessed mental rovings, with an articulate, wryly humorous voice that obviously springs from a well-traveled and well-read intellect. At every turn are enjoyable discoveries of unlikely connections, unpredictable logic, and unanswerable questions.

A few samples…. “The Best of Luck” opens the book by juxtaposing a love for idleness and an occult method for making utterly random travel plans. The brief title story is a disorienting mix of horse-riding astronauts, cryptozoology, an obscure literary science experiment, vintage electronic musical instruments, and an enigmatic password. “Effects and Causes” intertwines European spies, a South American knotted-string form of writing, and basement rooms that only sometimes exist. “An English Story” brings together in a pub four very British strangers with nothing in common but a sudden shared moment of bloodless violence and a peaceful, drunken death. “Antifoni” proposes a Viking-like village of seafarers who build a concrete boat to take them on a search for better quality housing.

Seven Cries of Delight is a genre-buster. I’m not familiar enough with the historical tradition of surrealist writings to say where this book may fit. I suspect that fans of Magritte and Dali who have a literary bent will appreciate it. It carries a hint of Lewis Carroll but is more adult; a large dose of Borges but is more accessible. For a contemporary comparison, perhaps the early work of Barry Yourgrau is apt. Or most recently, the highly lauded Ted Chiang. Chiang's stories are more obviously science fiction, and in my view are not as free and funny as Newton's.

But what’s the point of comparison? This is an unusual, entertaining, and thought-provoking collection. It contains genuinely metaphysical and visionary writing without the New Age trappings. On its opening “Pseudepigrapha” page is a quote from Dali: “...Eat this book.” ...more "

Sep 28, 2020 10:13AM · see review

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Brent Robison wrote a new blog post Bend an Ear: Three Bits of a Book Books are for reading. But sometimes books can be for listening, an odd form of reading that is almost like synesthesia. What does a circle taste lik Read more of this blog post »
Aug 09, 2025 12:06AM · like
Brent entered a giveaway Paul Auster's The New York Trilogy: City of Glass, Ghosts, The Locked Room (Pantheon Graphic Library) by Paul Karasik	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Mar 03, 2025 07:23AM · like · see giveaway · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Paul Auster's The New York Trilogy by Paul Karasik. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Paul Auster's The New York Trilogy by Paul Karasik <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Brent liked Kelly's review of A Book with No Author: "This was a different type of read for me. I wasn't sure what to expect based on the title and the description, but my curiosity was peaked. I found this to have quite a few twists and turns and it was a read that left me thinkings about a lot of thin" Read more of this review »
Apr 04, 2024 09:54AM · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of A Book with No Author by Brent Robison. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — A Book with No Author by Brent Robison <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Brent liked Emily's review of A Book with No Author: "This book is definitely unique, and unlike anything else I've ever read. Coming from me, that's the highest of compliments. I read a lot, and am always thrilled to discover something new. This book 100% fits the bill! Don't go into this book expecting" Read more of this review »
Apr 04, 2024 09:54AM · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of A Book with No Author by Brent Robison. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — A Book with No Author by Brent Robison <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Brent liked Beth's review of A Book with No Author: "Brent Robison's compelling A Book with No Author is an enigma wrapped in a riddle that delves into questions of identity, agency, authorship. This absorbing work of literary fiction uses a very successful framing conceit that pulls the reader into a " Read more of this review »
Apr 04, 2024 09:53AM · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of A Book with No Author by Brent Robison. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — A Book with No Author by Brent Robison <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">