Eric Yoshiaki Dando (born July 1970), is a

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

writer, best known for the cult novel ''snail'' (Penguin, 1996), although his short fiction has appeared in many literary magazines and anthologies, including ''Hot Type'' (Penguin, 1995), ''Hot Sand'' (Penguin, 1996), ''The Age'' (Melbourne), ''Best Australian Stories'', the ''Sleepers Alamanac'', ''Going Down Swinging'', ''Cordite'', ''Undergrowth'', ''Verity La'', ''The Diamond & the Thief'', '' Red Leaves / 紅葉'', ''Torpedo'' and ''

The Lifted Brow The Lifted Brow is both the name of an Australian not-for-profit literary organisation (also less well known as the TLB Society Inc.), and the quarterly print literary magazine/journal it publishes. It also publishes its books through its Brow B ...

''. His most recent novel title
''Oink, Oink, Oink''
is a surreal,

black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...

that plays with themes from

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

pop culture Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * Pop (Gas al ...

, consumerism, and

genetic engineering Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, is the modification and manipulation of an organism's genes using technology. It is a set of technologies used to change the genetic makeup of cells, including t ...

. It was published by Hunter Publishers in October 2008, and reissued online as an e-book through Smashwords in May, 2011.

Biography

Eric Yoshiaki Dando was born in Tokyo but grew up in Melbourne. He was associated with the short lived

grunge Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock genre and subculture that emerged during the in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of p ...

and

dirty realism Dirty realism is a term coined by Bill Buford of ''Granta'' magazine to define a North American literary movement. Writers in this sub-category of realism are said to depict the seamier or more mundane aspects of ordinary life in spare, unadorned l ...

movements in Australian literature in the last century (1990s). He also experiments with cryptographs (

cryptograms A cryptogram is a type of puzzle that consists of a short piece of encrypted text. Generally the cipher used to encrypt the text is simple enough that the cryptogram can be solved by hand. Substitution ciphers where each letter is replaced by ...

) and humorous

comics a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate ...

, the first of which was published in ''Cordite'' although inaccurately credited to Evan Dando.

''Snail''

Eric Dando's first novel ''Snail'' attracted widespread attention as one of the very few unsolicited novels published by a major publishing company. At the time, he was the youngest Australian writer published by

Penguin Penguins (order (biology), order List of Sphenisciformes by population, Sphenisciformes , family (biology), family Spheniscidae ) are a group of Water bird, aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: on ...

. The story behind its publication became a minor sensation and has been subject to rumour and speculation to the point where it has taken on mythic qualities. The general story is that Eric Dando submitted his manuscript bound in floorboards, though sometimes it has been said they were palings from a fence amongst other things. The legend continues that it remained where it was in the office of

until someone tripped over it and read it. Currently, ''Snail'' is out of print, despite being voted in a 2010 Penguin Poll as one of the Top 100 books. The poll was officially conducted by

via their Facebook page in which Australian fans were asked to vote for their favourite

book of all time. ''Snail'' explored themes of madness, suicide, and drugs. It is a darkly humorous novel, but one which is undeniably positive and optimistic rather than glorifying the

genre of which it is a part. 'Printed entirely in lower case, the book seems to present a challenge to the reader - to make it through without being driven mad by the deliberate feyness of lower case.' - Tegan Bennet, 1996. 'Dando writes, 'jokes are always needed', and jokes - mostly good jokes - are his book's mainstay.' - ''Australian Book Review'', 1996. 'Refreshingly, Dando's philosophical approach appears to derive from the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

tendency to view the human soul or psyche as having an analogical relationship with the natural world...' - ''Philosopher Magazine'', 1996.

''Oink, Oink, Oink: A Savage Modern Fable''

''Oink, Oink, Oink'', described by its publisher as 'a savage modern fable about science, family, television, and love gone wrong', is a satirical novel describing a young man's journey from his home in Japan to meet his estranged, mad-scientist father in Melbourne, Australia. It was first published in Australia b
''Hunter Publishers''
in October 2008. Following difficulties with the publisher, Dando negotiated release of his book and it is currently in print vi
''Smashwords''
In selecting it as one of th
"best books of 2008"
reviewer Laurie Steed called it 'like Orwell on acid' and many reviewers have commented on its surreal tone and humorous, yet unsettling, view of consumerism, environmental degradation, and progress left to run wild. In 2008, ''Oink, Oink, Oink'' was also featured on ABS'

show with many positive comments which further defined Dando's novels as having a cult following. 'Imagine

Woody Allen Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...

and

Chuck Palahniuk Charles Michael "Chuck" Palahniuk (; born February 21, 1962) is an American freelance journalist and novelist who describes his work as transgressional fiction. He has published 19 novels, three nonfiction books, two graphic novels, and two adul ...

programming a festival for your brain... Part satirical horror, part spooky speculative fiction, a savagely funny critique of consumer-driven society.'— ''The Big Issue'', Australia 'Vonnegut meets Orwell in ''Oink, Oink, Oink''…a droll and unsettling nightmare of a book.'— ''The Age'', Melbourne. 'This black little fable begins with one of the best opening sentences I've seen lately, something that could sum up an entire generation's understanding of 20th-century world history.'— ''Sydney Morning Herald'' Oink'' is futuristic, zany, black, surreal.'—''The Sunday Age'', Melbourne

Bibliography

Novels * ''snail'' (Penguin, 1996) * ''Oink, Oink, Oink: a savage modern fable'' (Hunter Publishers, 2008; reissued by Smashwords, 2011)

External links

''ABC First Tuesday Bookclub episode''''Author website: ericdando.com''''Cordite''''Oink Oink Oink on Smashwords''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dando, Eric Living people 20th-century Australian novelists 20th-century Australian male writers 21st-century Australian novelists Australian male novelists Australian male short story writers Writers from Melbourne 1970 births 20th-century Australian short story writers 21st-century Australian short story writers Grunge lit Grunge lit authors 21st-century Australian male writers