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Titles from around the world have been shortlisted for the 2013 Dundee International Book Prize, which awards £10,000 and a publishing deal with Scottish independent Cargo for the best unpublished novel.
Shortlisted books include settings in Iran, South Africa, and Romania, and with writers coming from Texas, Japan and Belgium.
Self-published titles are eligible for the prize, and at least two of the 13-strong shortlist—Lily Barker's All Things End in Yes and Elizabeth Key's Beware of Men with Moustaches—already available via Kindle Direct Publishing. Extracts from each of the 13 shortlisted titles are available as a free e-book on Amazon.
The prize, organised by the University of Dundee's Literary Dundee Initiative and One City, Many Discoveries campaign, will be judged by agent Clare Alexander, TV presenter Lorraine Kelly, architect Sir Norman Foster, author AL Kennedy and actor Brian Cox, the Dundee University rector. The favourite title will be announced as the ninth winner of the prize in June.
Mark Buckland, head of Cargo Publishing, said: "After the great success of last year's winner, The Man Who Wouldn't Stand Up by Jacob Appel, I'm really pleased that once again we have a diverse, exciting and eclectic shortlist that makes it tough for the judges to pick an overall winner."
The full shortlist:
Light in the Blood (Nicholas Murgatroyd) a literary mystery set at a writers retreat in Romania
All Things End in Yes (Lily Barker) the tale of a London food critic who discovers an Iranian carpet embroidered with cryptic messages
Falling Fast (Neil Broadfoot) a contemporary crime novel set in Edinburgh which uncovers the secrets and lies of an MSP at Holyrood.
A Brief Eternity (Paul Beaumont), an immortal love story that finds non-believer Jerry caught up in the Rapture and headed for Heaven
Beware of Men with Moustaches (Elizabeth Kay) the tale of four poets trapped in a nightmare of Kafkaesque proportions
Dog Mountain (Iain Maloney) a magical realist thriller which takes the reader through the history and mythology of Japan
The Society of Unexampled Brilliance (Paul Warnes) a dysfunctional family reunion takes place at a house in Cornwall
Kissing Trisha Six Times (Dandy McGregor) a tale of malpractice, witchcraft, S&M and insurance fraud
In the Rosary Garden (Nicola White) a grisly discovery in the grounds of a convent school in 1980s Dublin sparks a complicated case for the investigating detective
Mango (Jeff Hayden) a novel based on a true, and as yet unsolved, murder case in 1950s Puerto Rico
The Confession of Stella Moon (Shelley Day Sclater) a dark, brooding tale of matricide and infanticide mixed with a touch of the supernatural
The Killing Pool (Phillip Kurthausen) a military lawyer struggles with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as he takes on a new case
What to do with Lobsters in a Place Like Klippisfontein (Colette Victor) an examination of racial tensions in a small, rural, conservative town in South Africa