News about Thrust Books.

What's happening in the world of Thrust Books.

New Book By Vitali from Amberley Publishing

Thrust Books isn't publishing this book but we want to tell you about it anyway. Trucks in the Garden of Eden: Journeys in Search of Britain's Utiopias by Vitali Vitaliev will be published on 15 July 2024. Award-winning Ukrainian-born journalist Vitali Vitaliev takes stock of Britain today and investigates the state of the nation’s many disparate attempts to create a utopian community, including the garden city that inspired Lenin; the model villages where alcohol was forbidden; and the rural communities that have sought to disconnect themselves from the chaos and strife of ever encroaching modernity. Click here for more details

Life as a Literary Device Now in Paperback

A new paperback edition of Life as a Literary Device has been published. This first paperback edition of the book contains a new sizeable Introduction (or rather an ‘Addition’), which includes Vitali’s hitherto unpublished conversation with Rudolf Nureyev – the dying great dancer's very last interview – and other memories of Vitali's life in the years since the book’s original publication in 2009. Buy the paperback from Amazon UK and Amazon US.

Join Vitali for a series of webinars

To mark the launch of The Bumper Book of Vitali's Travels, Vitali is hosting a series of Sunday webinars, designed to bring you on a journey and uplift your spirits during these pandemic times of isolation. Join Vitali on a Sunday afternoon, for a warm and fun discussion and reading, and travel from the comforts of your home. The five webinars – each covering a different topic - take place on the last Sunday of every month using Zoom. For more information and to sign up to attend, click here.

The Bumper Book of Vitali's Travels Released

Vitali Vitalieve's new book is now available for the Kindle and in paperback. Award-winning writer Vitali Vitaliev has been exploring the world and writing about his experiences for thirty years. Now you can read some of his very best work, collected into one volume. Click here for more details about the book

Letchworth newspaper The Comet covers Vitali's new book

The Comet has published an article about The Bumper Book of Vitali's Travels. Read it here.

Vitali's New Travel Book to be Published in February

The Bumper Book of Vitali's Travels will be published for the Kindle and in paperback on 1 February. Award-winning writer Vitali Vitaliev has been exploring the world and writing about his experiences for thirty years. Now you can read some of his very best work, collected into one volume. Click here for more details about the book

Vitali Vitaliev's monthly column wins a TABPI award

Vitali's column for Engineering & Technology magazine has won a TABPI award. The judges comments about his column, After All, were: “Outstanding column ... appealing to the ‘real’ people... Fabulous tone of voice"

Out of the Blu, a new science fiction comedy thriller by Vitali Vitaliev, available now from Thrust Books

Two identical couples slip through the cracks from other universes and find themselves trapped in a world which is almost – but not quite – like their own. Vitali Vitaliev's new book is a science fiction comedy thriller. The underlying theme is not so much the multiverse as that eternal question: how well do we know our loved ones? Relationships are strained, new attachments are formed and the beautiful little differences that make each of us unique are examined closely.

Out of the Blu is available in paperback and for the Kindle. Read more about Out of the Blu here.

Vitali Vitaliev on Radio 4: The Life of Dental Losses

Vitali documents his journey to Budapest to have his teeth removed, in a Radio 4 documentary broadcast on Thursday 16 March. On the way he makes a literary exploration of dentistry to distract himself from the upcoming dental ordeal. You can listen to the programme on the BBC iplayer here.

Passport to Enclavia article in the Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph printed an article about Europe's enclaves, using information from Vitali Vitaliev's book Passport to Enclavia. Read the article here.

Granny Yaga, a fantasy for adults and children, now available from Thrust Books

Vitali Vitaliev's fantasy book is based on the Russian folklore about the fearsome witch Baba Yaga - but it's set in modern day London. Granny Yaga moves from the oppressive state of USELES to the UK, and is accompanied in her adventures by a boy called Danya and Bulgakov, a talking cat.

Granny Yaga is available in paperback and for the Kindle. Read more about Granny Yaga here.

Passport to Enclavia now available in paperback

Click here to buy the paperback from Amazon UK or Amazon US.

EU Referendum makes Vitali's book about Europe's enclaves even more relevant

Now that the campaigning has started in earnest for the EU referendum to be held in June, it's worth revisiting one of Vitali's books that visits countries in Europe and talks about the EU.

In Passport to Enclavia Vitali visits Brussels and Maastricht, and talks about the European bureacracy. He calls the European state the EU-SSR, and is scathing about the red tape, chronic inefficiency and corruption.

Passport to Enclavia offers a witty and emotional, yet meticulously researched, case for Britain to leave the EU. Vitali first made his plea in 2002, when the euro was in the process of being introduced. The book, which has since been translated into several European languages including Russian and Italian, chronicles absurdities and contradictions of that process.

Read more about Passport to Enclavia here.

Vitali visits the mini states of Europe in his new book

15 Jun - Vitali Vitaliev's new book Little is the Light details his travels around the mini-states of Europe, all with a population of less than half a million. Taking in San Marino, Mount Athos, the Isle of Man, Luxembourg, the Faroe Islands, Gibraltar, Andorra, Malta, Monaco and Seborga, the book describes each country’s own unique culture with sparkling humour and wisdom. Read more about Little is the Light.

Read about a new micronation called Enclava:

10 Jun - A recent article in the Guardian newspaper reported on the establishment of a new micronation on the Croatian-Servian border, called Enclava. Its official website is here: http://enclava.org/. I wonder if they Read Passport to Enclavia before deciding on that name?

Vitali's new book is a booze cruise around Eastern Europe

8 Sep - In his informative and hilarious new book Borders Up! Vitali Vitaliev attempts to find out why drinking in post-Communist Eastern Europe has increased dramatically since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Available now for the Kindle and in paperback. Read more about Borders Up!

Vitali visits Ireland in his new book

3 Dec - Vitali Vitaliev takes a tour around Ireland using old guidebooks, to offer a unique perspective on 21st century Irish cultural identity. Read more about Vitali's Ireland.

Thrust does haiku

20 Sep - Thrust Books has released a book of haiku reflecting modern life. Read more about The Wasp's Small Shadow by Frank Dullaghan.

History of the book from rocks to e-reader

29 May - The much-missed author Douglas Adams recorded some promo audio for Voyager Books' venture into digital books in the early 1990s. They were ahead of their time! Here's a charming animation set to Douglas' narration.

Launch Party with Vitali

24 May - We held a launch party for Thrust Books and for Vitali's two books (Life as a Literary Device and Passport to Enclavia) last night, in the upstairs room at Ye Old Mitre Tavern in Ely Place. It was a good do! We hope to have a video of Vitali's talk available soon. Watch this space!

Review of Life as a Literary Device

1 May - There's a very favourable review of Vitali's book Life as a Literary Device by writer Jane Ayres on her blog.

Passport to Enclavia by Vitali Vitaliev is published

12 April - Now on sale in Amazon's Kindle store is Vitali's book Passport to Enclavia: Travels in Search of a European Identity. He explores the idiosyncrasies of Europe’s forgotten enclaves, and uncovers the ten year old roots of the current EU crisis, providing a timelessly topical perspective on one of recent history’s key events, the birth of the Euro.

Read more about Passport to Enclavia.

Vitali Vitaliev talk

27 Feb - In October 2011, Vitali Vitaliev, author of Life as a Literary Device, gave a talk in the Russkiy Mir Bookshop. Someone recorded the talk and uploaded it to YouTube, so you can listen to it:
Vitali Vitalieve talk on YouTube

Huff Post article: Books are a technology too

20 Feb - Interesting article published a few weeks ago about how the divide between old-fashioned book lovers and new-fangled e-book fans is bogus:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-bergquist/ebook-publishing_b_1215022.html

Vitali Vitaliev book Life as a Literary Device is published:

10 Feb - Our first book! How exciting. We are delighted to be able to bring you a kindle version of Vitali's excellent book, which explores his lifelong relationship with literature and how it has helped him to survive in the modern world. Join Vitali on a wry and very personal exploration of the human condition.

Read more about Life as a Literary Device.

Thrust Books website goes live:

10 Feb - Well, obviously, you're reading this website so it must have gone live! But it's worth recording for posterity, I think.