It's been nearly 20 years since Nick Cave last flexed his novelistic muscle, but pretty soon he could well be battling with such literary heavyweights as Rushdie, Roth and, er, Katie Price. Publishing house Canongate has announced that it has the rights to Cave's second novel, which follows 1989's And the Ass Saw the Angel.

Cave's debut novel was critically acclaimed at the time, and has since achieved cult status. It tells the story of Euchrid Eucrow, the mute son of an alcoholic mother and sadistic father, who exacts revenge on the people who have made his life a misery. Featuring expansions on the themes dealt with in Bad Seeds lyrics, it's twisted Biblical fantasia is like a punk take on the southern Gothic style of William Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor.

The brutal, visceral quality of Cave's language has drawn comparisons with the early work of American writer Cormac McCarthy, and coincidentally, Cave is currently working on a soundtrack for the film adaption of McCarthy's Pulitzer prize-winning novel The Road.

According to the Bookseller.com, Cave's forthcoming book will trace "the fortunes of one man and his son on a road trip around the south coast of England following the suicide of his wife".

Upon release there will also be audio books, ebooks, signed books and no doubt lots more variations on the "book" theme.

For those of you who've been waiting patiently since 1989 for a new Nick Cave novel, you'll have to hold your breath a little longer. The book is not due to hit shelves until September 2009.