'More Lies,' Richard James Allen’s new Meta-Fictional Comedy Thriller, Receives a NYC Big Book Award®

SYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA, October 27, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- With the U.S. mid-term elections looming, as more and more untruths seem to be simultaneously both piling up and collapsing in on themselves, "More Lies" by Richard James Allen's timing is interesting.

So much so that "More Lies" has been recognized by the 2026 NYC Big Book Award, taking home the category of Distinguished Favorite in Audiobook-Fiction.

In "More Lies," Allen crafts a playful yet deeply perceptive exploration of gullibility, truth, and misinformation in the modern era. Functioning as a satirical handbook for critical thinking, the audiobook combines razor-sharp dark humour and layered, unpredictable storytelling to challenge how we process narrative and deception in an increasingly complex world.

“From the first page we are breathlessly catapulted into the story – the anonymous narrator is trapped and being held hostage at gunpoint in his unit, and is being forced to type to hide the plots and shenanigans of a glamorous femme fatale (Stricklandson) and her brother (Peters), a ‘small time thug with big time ambitions’.... The novel blends the sardonic, excessively flamboyant, far-fetched and possibly improbable. In some ways it is like a film noir or hardboiled detective crime novel...a fluid, shape shifting tale about assassination attempts, murder..., betrayal, lost gold, passion, [and] identity theft.”
---Lynne Lancaster, Sydney Arts Guide

"So what is "More Lies"?... a thought-provoking, humourous, entertaining, and occasionally disturbing story that will unhinge the reader, leaving more questions than answers. You’ll be all the richer for it."
---Magdalena Ball, Compulsive Reader

And Compulsive Reader went on to say this about the audiobook: "At times it feels very much like we are inside someone else’s dream: ‘Better wake up, enough dreaming.’ Other times, the audio leans more heavily into the philosophical elements of the book, carefully enunciating some of the bigger questions about the way we are all creating multiple narratives about ourselves: ‘Don’t you know by now that there is no story?’ or about the role of art and storytelling: ‘What is storytelling but a voice against death?’ Allen employs vocal effects, accents, and a range of tonal shifts as the narration begins to fracture, creating a whole layer of non-semantical meaning. The audio version is even more Lynchian than the book."

"While it may be hard to pin down the nature of "More Lies" as it unpicks genre and indeed the whole artifice that makes up fiction (or even our lives), the book remains engaging from the first word to the last, and listening to it on audio is an entirely new pleasure."

A fresh, subversive alternative for listeners tired of formulaic true crime and psychological thrillers, the audiobook of "More Lies" had its World Premiere at the Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival, subsequently featuring at ten other international festivals, including the HollyShorts Film Festival in Los Angeles. It is currently streaming internationally on Spotify, Audible, Audiobooks and a range of other platforms.

A meta-fictional comedy thriller that explores storytelling not just as an art form, but as a dizzying, desperate, cat-and-mouse survival tactic, "More Lies" is available in print, Ebook and all other formats from innovative Australian independent press Interactive Publications (IP): https://ipoz.biz/product/more-lies/

You can listen to Richard James Allen and Jadzea Allen performing the audiobook trailer at The Physical TV Channel on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/1089506910 or on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-387793087/more-lies-audiobook-trailer.

"To have "More Lies" recognized as a Distinguished Favorite by the NYC Big Book Award panel is a wonderful honour," said Dr. Richard James Allen. "This work addresses our contemporary struggles with truth, misinformation, and political noise. My hope is that the audio experience offers listeners both sharp entertainment and a playful prompt to read between the lines."

Upon his award recognition, Allen was invited to be a featured speaker on The GAB TALKS, an international platform that showcases impactful authors and creators. During his segment on December 3rd, 2026, he will explore the inspiration behind "More Lies", focusing on its satirical take on modern misinformation, fake news, and political turmoil. He will also discuss how the work functions as "a whimsical wake-up call, a mischievous handbook" for navigating gullibility and unravelling unreliable truths in today's media landscape, as well as his process for converting complex, richly layered poetic and literary fiction into an engaging, multi-dimensional audio performance.

The NYC Big Book Award is an international competition open to authors, publishers, and filmmakers globally. The competition is judged by experts from different aspects of the book industry, including publishers, writers, editors, designers, booksellers, librarians and professional copywriters. Winners and distinguished favorites are based on overall excellence.

Entries this year were received from the United States as well as countries such as Australia, Canada, China, Dubai, England, Estonia, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, New Zealand, Scotland, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. Cities represented among the entries were Auckland, Baltimore, Dallas, Frankfurt, Hollywood, Johannesburg, Manhattan Beach, New Orleans, NYC, Philadelphia, Sydney, and West Palm Beach.

Publishers included Beacon Press, Berrett-Koehler, Casemate, Edinburgh University Press, Forbes Books, Interactive Publications, Kiplinger Books, NYU Press, Palgrave Macmillan, Penguin Random House, Rizzoli, Routledge, Salmon Poetry, The White House Historical Association, University of California Press, University of Nebraska Press, Weaving Influence Press, and Wiley.

"We have an amazing list of authors from around the globe participating this year," said awards sponsor Gabby Olczak. "I’m so excited to share these books with a worldwide readership!"

NYC Big Book Award, https://www.nycbigbookaward.com/, is announced every fall. NYC Big Book Award is open to all authors, publishers, and illustrators, and includes submissions from the big five publishers. Join us for the Awards Dinner on April 10th, https://www.nycbigbookaward.com/awardsdinner, held at the BookCAMP event, April 9-10, 2027, https://www.ipabookcamp.com, where recipients walk on stage to receive their awards.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr Richard James Allen is a multi-award-winning Australian poet, filmmaker, actor, dancer and choreographer living in Sydney on unceded Gadigal lands. Artistic Director of The Physical TV Company, https://physicaltv.com.au/, his work has been published, screened, broadcast and performed widely across six continents.

His literary fiction, "More Lies" (Interactive Publications), was Runner Up, Published Novel, at the Eyelands Book Awards, and, in an earlier incarnation, shortlisted for the Griffin Award for New Australian Playwriting. The audiobook, which he narrated with Jadzea Allen, is internationally available on Spotify, Audible and a range of other platforms. After its world premiere at the Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival, "More Lies" won a NYC Big Book Award, Distinguished Favorite for Audiobook-Fiction, Best Podcast at the Clown International Film Festival and was a Finalist at Rio WebFest, LAWEBFEST, Apulia Web Fest and Greenbook Media Festival.

His thirteenth book, Text Messages from the Universe (Flying Island Books), reflects a lifelong engagement with Buddhist and Yogic philosophies. It was a finalist for Poetry Narrative at the Eric Hoffer and American Book Fest Awards. His film adaptation won six awards and was nominated for Best Narrative Feature Film at the ATOM Awards.

A First-Class Honours graduate of Sydney University, where an early draft of "More Lies" won the Sydney University Union Literary Prize, Allen received the Chancellor’s Award for best doctoral thesis at the University of Technology, Sydney.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
For review copies, interviews, readings, festival appearances, workshops, publications and other literary matters related to Richard James Allen, please contact The Physical TV Company: PhysicalTV@gmail.com. For acting inquiries, please contact his agent, Sue Morris at Duke Actors Management: sue@dukeactors.com.

Gabby Olczak
NYC Big Book Award
+1 973-969-1899
Visit us on social media:
LinkedIn
Instagram
Facebook
YouTube
TikTok
X
Other