Steve Finbow
Immanence
In Extremis: the A to Z of Francis Bacon
Infinity Land PressThe Disorder Diaries: Chronicles of Neurological Conditions in the Arts
Iff BooksBiography
Steve Finbow is an independent scholar and author whose work spans fiction, nonfiction, and cultural history. In 2005, he wrote the script for Grace, produced by Quarantine Theatre Company at the Contact Theatre, Manchester.
His novels and short stories include Balzac of the Badlands (2009), Tougher Than Anything in the Animal Kingdom (2011), Nothing Matters (2012), and Down Among the Dead (2014).
His nonfiction explores avant-garde art, experimental prose, and cultural history, with titles including Allen Ginsberg: A Critical Biography (2012), Grave Desire: A Cultural History of Necrophilia (2014; updated and illustrated, 2024), Notes from the Sick Room (2017), Death Mort Tod (with Karolina Urbaniak, 2018), and The Mindshaft (2020).
Recent works include Polaroid Haiku (with Jukka Siikala, 2023) and The Life of the Artist Niccolò di Mescolano (2023).
"Finbow's always good at this idea of eroticism at the brink of the abyss, of leaning out over deranged horror to where the abyss is the ruin of the ruin. He takes us to the edge of the same abyss by suppressing laughter and ecstasy and leaves us wondering just what 'questioning' of everything looks like, or if it's even a thing. It's a stage of anti-rupture, of not letting go of things, of not looking forward to death. Kind of anti-Bataille in this respect I think. Reading Finbow reminds you of the first time you read A Thousand Plateaus and Crash."