Elizabeth Tan
Rubik
“Whatever your jam is — mind-bending logic, beautiful, lyrical writing, or a deep dive into contemporary life — there is something brilliant here for everyone.”
Brio Books, 2017
The dead aren't really gone, they persist as phone numbers, social media accounts, newsletter recipients, and as members of fan-fiction forums. Digital ghosts move and connect us: we feel we know people we have only seen online just as corporations masquerade as familiar friends.
In Rubik, darkly comedic interconnected stories follow Elena Rubik, her best friend Jules Valentine, and wannabe investigative reporter April Kuan, as a viral marketing scheme's motivations become cause for concern. There are the adventures of a model turned visual artist, a voice actor primarily used for tech support, enigmatic schoolchildren, clever anime characters, and more.
Deftly blending the real and imagined with biting social satire, Elizabeth Tan explores the lives of her diverse group of characters with deep empathy and insight into our contemporary world.
About the Author
Elizabeth Tan is a writer and sessional academic who lives in Boorloo/Perth. She is the author of two books: the novel-in-stories Rubik (Brio, 2017) and the short story collection Smart Ovens for Lonely People (Brio, 2020). Smart Ovens was longlisted for the 2021 Stella Prize and the 2021 Colin Roderick Award, shortlisted for the 2021 USQ Steele Rudd Award for a Short Story Collection, and the winner of the 2020 Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction.