As all three regular readers of CAP will be aware, my latest opus – BAD FOR GOOD: A GONZO NOIR – is being sent out to publishers for the by-now traditional mass rejection. Notwithstanding the fact that it may never be published, I’ve already started asking other writers for blurbs, which is a necessary evil in this day and age. As all three regular readers of CAP – one of whom, I’m reliably informed, is Adrian McKinty (right, currently topping the ‘Who is the Sexiest Irish Crime Writer?’ poll) – will also be aware, I think Adrian McKinty is a terrific writer. I got in touch with him after reading DEAD I WELL MAY BE, which is as good a novel of any stripe as I’ve ever read, and we’ve stayed in touch since. As well as being a top writer, he’s a good bloke, and at this stage he’s a mate. In saying all that, I asked him to read BFGAGN as part of my ongoing bid for world domination because he’s one of my favourite writers – his latest, FIFTY GRAND, is in my not-entirely-humble opinion one of the best novels published to date this year. Anyway, the point of telling you all that is that you may or may not want to take what he says about BFGAGN below with a Siberian mine-sized pinch of salt. To wit:
“What happens when the voices in a writer’s head come to life? In Declan Burke’s funny and intelligent A GONZO NOIR we find out. Burke has written a deep, lyrical and moving crime novel about the difficulty of writing a crime novel. Dangerous fictional creations and real people and fictionalised real people battle for a writer’s soul in an intoxicating and exciting novel of which the master himself, Flann O’Brien, would be proud.” – Adrian McKinty, author of FIFTY GRAND.I’m not questioning the man’s integrity, you understand. I’m just saying, it’s best to be up-front and honest about these things. It’s a small matter of principle …
Well then you also should have mentioned that I recently called you the c word. but in the Glasgow sense of it I think rather than the American.
ReplyDeleteAnd listen I know that photograph is going to cost me valuable votes so let me again point out that that it was taken after a 19 hour flight, at two in morning, after an evening's drinking (et. alia) on Dec's camera phone.
ReplyDeleteOh, that explains it. Btw, you are not leading the vote. Declan seems incapable of reading a simple list properly. CrimeFest after effects?
ReplyDeleteMiss Witch
ReplyDeleteIt aint even close. And there was me with my bribe of Smörgåsbord all set to go...
People - (1) There's a long way to go yet. (2) All bribes are good. (3) McKinty was leading when I wrote the post, but then John Connolly obviously got a whiff of what was going on ...
ReplyDeleteCheers, Dec
Wow. A man who can dot and put rings where they belong and not a single unwanted ø! Smelly cheese will do it for me, Adrian. No need for the whole table. So shall I change my vote from Mr Burke to you? I'm outraged I can't vote several times over.
ReplyDeleteI'm just not sure which McKinty I'm looking at. The Cuban mafia boss, or the sweet Dad figure playing with young child in tall grass?
my appetite for the new opus is being whetted nicely, but i can't help wishing it wasn't called "A Gonzo Noir". I just dont like it; it sounds like a genre, or even a very rough working title, rather than a proper, finished, title. (is it a genre?) Only my inconsiderable 2 cents, and, anyway, what do i know?
ReplyDeleteMs Witch, you are perhaps the only woman in Western Europe who finds perfect Scandavian punctuation sexy. Whether that's good or bad I'm still not sure ...
ReplyDeleteAdrian - It's either that pic or the one where you look like an incontinent psychopath. Your choice, mate ...
Conor - Welcome aboard, squire. As you may or may not already know, nothing around here is written in stone. By the time the book comes out - if, I should say - it's entirely possible that it'll be called "A Primrose for Penelope" and I'll have had a sex-change. Oh, and feel free to suggest a new title ...
Cheers, Dec
Ooops - That's what happens when you leave a comment whilst squinting against the glare of the sun beaming in your window ... That should, of course, be "prefrect Scandinavian pruncturashun", Ms Witch ...
ReplyDeleteCheers, Dec
Prefrect pruncturashun. I don't think so. Umlaut, you lout. Won't mention here what we call the dots at witch headquarters...
ReplyDelete