It’s Friday, it’s funky, to wit: Marshal Zeringue subjected Declan Hughes’ latest, THE DYING BREED, to the Page 69 Test. Does the boy Hughes, along with virtually everyone else who takes the test, offer a variation on the phrase ‘Y’know, funnily enough, page 69 doesn’t really do the book justice’? Suck it and see … It’s not so long ago we were giving it socks about John Connolly not being nominated for awards. Now the guy can’t stop winning, the latest being the Crime Spree gong for THE UNQUIET. Huzzah! Karma, we call it – vote Connolly or get a CAP in yo ass … A small slew of Benny Blanco-related material: first up, an interview with the not noticeably modest Benny (aka John Banville) in the Village Voice (Q: Was there some surprise that it was THE SEA that you won [the Booker Prize] for and not THE BOOK OF EVIDENCE? A: “Oh, yeah, THE BOOK OF EVIDENCE should have won. THE UNTOUCHABLE [1997] should have won. That was a real Booker book. But that wasn’t even short-listed.”). And here’s Benny reading from THE SILVER SWAN and generally pretending he’s not raging that he has to write grubby genre fiction to earn a few bob at the oul’ scribbling … A couple of competition giveaways, people: My Village is giving away copies of DB Shan’s PROCESSION OF THE DEAD, while the Birmingham Mail is lashing out freebies of Scott Mariani’s THE ALCHEMIST’S SECRET … Catherine O’Flynn is looking for your vote for the Waterstone’s Newcomer of the Year in the Galaxy British Book Awards, for her debut novel WHAT WAS LOST, so get in there and vote early and often … There’s an interview with Sean Moncrieff, the author of THE HISTORY OF THINGS, over at the RTE Guide … There’ll be a fine crime fiction representation at the Wexford Book Festival (April 11-13), with Eoin Colfer, Derek Landy and John Banville turning up to wibble their cotton socks off, although Benny Blanco might have something to say about Banville being credited with writing THE SILVER SWAN … Apropos of nothing at all, although Ray Banks might get a kick out of it, here’s Bobby Gillespie talking about Arthur Lee’s Love (cheers, Karlos) in the forthcoming documentary, ‘Love Story’ … Over at Critical Mick, the Critical One interviews THE CAT TRAP author KT McCaffrey, and if you ever wanted to know about anal bleaching, KT is a veritable font of knowledge, apparently … Meanwhile, Gerard Brennan at CSNI grills THE LOST CHORD author Tony Bailie … Patrick McCabe’s crime fiction-ish WINTERWOOD has been short-listed for the Impac Prize, which is worth €100,000 … Staying with shortlists, and The Artist Formerly Known As Colin Bateman’s TITANIC 2020 has been nominated for the Bisto Book of the Year shortlist – insert your own ‘gravy train’ punchline here … Finally, the vid below showcases Allan Guthrie doing what he does best – waffling at length about how his blend of hardboiled noir and black humour is never likely to sell many books, the prize-winning, self-deprecating swine. The book trailer is for SAVAGE NIGHT and if you don’t go out and buy it RIGHT THIS BLUMMIN’ SECOND, Allan will send Ray Banks around to taunt your children. Roll it there, Collette …
Dana - Rumour has it that Allan Guthrie is a classically trained bullshit artist ... and there aren't too many of us, either. You're right, we will have to stick together. Cheers, Dec
Declan Burke has published a number of novels, the most recent of which is ABSOLUTE ZERO COOL. As a journalist and critic, he writes and broadcasts on books and film for a variety of media outlets, including the Irish Times, RTE, the Irish Examiner and the Sunday Independent. He has an unfortunate habit of speaking about himself in the third person. All views expressed here are his own and are very likely to be contrary.
It’s Friday, it’s funky, to wit: Marshal Zeringue subjected Declan Hughes’ latest, THE DYING BREED, to the Page 69 Test. Does the boy Hughes, along with virtually everyone else who takes the test, offer a variation on the phrase ‘Y’know, funnily enough, page 69 doesn’t really do the book justice’? Suck it and see … It’s not so long ago we were giving it socks about John Connolly not being nominated for awards. Now the guy can’t stop winning, the latest being the Crime Spree gong for THE UNQUIET. Huzzah! Karma, we call it – vote Connolly or get a CAP in yo ass … A small slew of Benny Blanco-related material: first up, an interview with the not noticeably modest Benny (aka John Banville) in the Village Voice (Q: Was there some surprise that it was THE SEA that you won [the Booker Prize] for and not THE BOOK OF EVIDENCE? A: “Oh, yeah, THE BOOK OF EVIDENCE should have won. THE UNTOUCHABLE [1997] should have won. That was a real Booker book. But that wasn’t even short-listed.”). And here’s Benny reading from THE SILVER SWAN and generally pretending he’s not raging that he has to write grubby genre fiction to earn a few bob at the oul’ scribbling … A couple of competition giveaways, people: My Village is giving away copies of DB Shan’s PROCESSION OF THE DEAD, while the Birmingham Mail is lashing out freebies of Scott Mariani’s THE ALCHEMIST’S SECRET … Catherine O’Flynn is looking for your vote for the Waterstone’s Newcomer of the Year in the Galaxy British Book Awards, for her debut novel WHAT WAS LOST, so get in there and vote early and often … There’s an interview with Sean Moncrieff, the author of THE HISTORY OF THINGS, over at the RTE Guide … There’ll be a fine crime fiction representation at the Wexford Book Festival (April 11-13), with Eoin Colfer, Derek Landy and John Banville turning up to wibble their cotton socks off, although Benny Blanco might have something to say about Banville being credited with writing THE SILVER SWAN … 
Apropos of nothing at all, although Ray Banks might get a kick out of it, here’s Bobby Gillespie talking about Arthur Lee’s Love (cheers, Karlos) in the forthcoming documentary, ‘Love Story’ … Over at Critical Mick, the Critical One interviews THE CAT TRAP author KT McCaffrey, and if you ever wanted to know about anal bleaching, KT is a veritable font of knowledge, apparently … Meanwhile, Gerard Brennan at CSNI grills THE LOST CHORD author Tony Bailie … Patrick McCabe’s crime fiction-ish WINTERWOOD has been short-listed for the Impac Prize, which is worth €100,000 … Staying with shortlists, and The Artist Formerly Known As Colin Bateman’s TITANIC 2020 has been nominated for the Bisto Book of the Year shortlist – insert your own ‘gravy train’ punchline here … Finally, the vid below showcases Allan Guthrie doing what he does best – waffling at length about how his blend of hardboiled noir and black humour is never likely to sell many books, the prize-winning, self-deprecating swine. The book trailer is for SAVAGE NIGHT and if you don’t go out and buy it RIGHT THIS BLUMMIN’ SECOND, Allan will send Ray Banks around to taunt your children. Roll it there, Collette … 
SAVAGE NIGHT sounds like a keeper. There aren't too many classically trained musicians writing crime fiction. We have to stick together.
ReplyDeleteDana - Rumour has it that Allan Guthrie is a classically trained bullshit artist ... and there aren't too many of us, either. You're right, we will have to stick together. Cheers, Dec
ReplyDelete