Where have all the ravers gone? Following his debut, Flower Factory, Richard Foster presents a new batch of psychedelicized, autofictive fairy tales from the Netherlands. The Punk Rock Birdwatching Club introduces a diverse cast of voices - from addicts to grandmothers - who narrate eight stories dealing with the major social changes that country underwent during the mid-noughties.

We learn of the upheavals brought on by the Euro and the influx of Polish workers alongside the slow disappearance of the British and Irish worker-raver tribes post-Schengen, all set against a backdrop of rising costs, political murders and foreign wars. We also learn of the shock of new party snacks, like asparagus sticks wrapped in ham. Like Flower Factory, The Punk Rock Birdwatching Club is set in the southern part of the Dutch Bollenstreek: an agro-industrial district that is always changing, but somehow manages to stay exactly the same.

'A charming and caustic book ... the subtly and experience of Foster’s pen means that what appears on its surface as an autofictive middle-aged bildungsroman runs far deeper, tapping into the murkiness of societal and individual psychology that examines how things both seemingly change and forever stay the same.' Louder Than War

'Through his stories, Richard Foster has the rare talent of casting the world anew. Under his eye, nothing is safe; the mundane becomes magical, the magical mundane. A collection to delight and destabilise.' Ali Millar, author of The Last Days and Ava, Anna, Ada

'A magnificent collection. Like a bouquet of condolence flowers for the casualties of late capitalism, Foster's stories brilliantly capture the alienation and gratification of hard graft in the 21st century with total authenticity and total sensitivity. Taking us on pushbike derives around the lowlands or chasing the next fleeting high with a motley cast of wreckheads, these are some of the most entertaining, elegant stories I've read about the various ways people struggle and strive to make work work for them.' Richard Milward, author of Man-Eating Typewriter

Richard Foster is a writer and artist living in the Netherlands. Richard is best known as a writer for The Quietus and Louder than War, and for his work at the famous avant-garde cultural centre, WORM. His debut novel, Flower Factory, was published by Ortac Press in 2022.