Jack on the Box

Oh hell, yeah! Got a snippet of info on the new TV series based on Ken Bruen's Jack Taylor novels. The Irish Film and Television Network website has released news of a 13 part series based on the novel The Guards. The pilot (running time 90 mins) will be broadcast on the 1st November. It'll be shot on location, in and around Galway City. The cast is still to be announced.

For info on the production company involved et al, have a shufty here.

Ken Bruen’s Writing Evolution

I received Tower by Ken Bruen and Reed Farrel Coleman recently (courtesy of Busted Flush Press). Since then, I’ve been thinking... I’ve read a fair number of Ken Bruen novels this year, both new and old, and I’ve found it a very interesting experience.

Thanks to Busted Flush Press you can read some of Bruen’s earliest work in a collection of novellas and short stories they’ve released titled A Fifth of Bruen. I read the opening piece in the collection not long after reading The Guards. Funeral: Tales of Irish Morbidities, as pointed out in the introduction by Allan Guthrie, is not a crime story, but the protagonist is almost an early version of Jack Taylor. Drunk, surly and difficult to get on with, but with a soul that springs deepest sympathy at the most surprising moments. And even with a cluttered mind like mine, you’ll spot a scene that has made its way into both texts. Some people might think of this as recycling. I prefer to think of it in fanboy terms -- like the books share a little overlap in the space-time continuum or something. Both Jack Taylor and Dillon, the protagonist from Funeral, visit a sick wino on his deathbed bearing the gift of socks. It’s a nice scene, brimming with righteous indignation and grief, and it adds a lot to the multidimensional characters from each story.

Another book that can be linked to The Guards via this space-time continuum thing is Dispatching Baudelaire. Mike Shaw, the turbulent accountant who provides the narrative for Dispatching Baudelaire, hints at a rocky relationship with his mother. Just like Jack Taylor. And both characters blame their mothers for the early death of their fathers. And both of their fathers had ten identical suits... Dispatching Baudelaire is a very different book than The Guards. The former is of a quirky American Psycho or Dexter mould whereas the latter is a hard-as-nails PI tale. But the little snippet of back-story works equally well in both novels.

Jack Taylor may be Bruen’s most popular character, but I think his genesis is an interesting one. If you haven’t read his early work, I’d say it’s definitely worth seeking out. It’s not too hard to find. Just look here. As well as the nerdy rush to be had at spotting space-time continuum overlaps (or recycled scenes), the reader will find that Bruen’s idiosyncratic way with prose has been constant (though refined) throughout the years. And let’s face it, the speed most of his fans burn through one of his novels? It’s good to know there’s a little more out there to keep you going until his next release.

A Quick and Pathetic Excuse for a Post

Apologies for the silence. I've got a cold and it's messing with my writing head. Should be back on track soon.

I've just noticed that I haven't posted a book review since the beginning of March. I've read some great novels since Zeltserman's Pariah, but I was riding an inspiration wave for the novel in progress, so I chose to ignore them for the time being. Just for the record, they were:

Cold Caller by Jason Starr

1977 by David Peace

The Guards by Ken Bruen

1980 by David Peace.

Actually, I don't think I'll review the two Peace books. They got quite a bit of coverage over the last few weeks after the Red Riding films aired on Channel Four. I'll maybe do a roundup when I've read and watched 1983, but I don't think David Peace will panic much if I don't get around to it. I will say this, though... if the movies didn't float your boat, don't let it put you off the books. I wasn't hugely impressed by parts one and two of Red Riding, though in fairness, I've watched a lot worse. But the thing with the Red Riding Quartet (as opposed to the trilogy of films) is the writing, not the story. Hard to convey that on the screen. They're all available in nice snazzy paperbacks through Serpent's Tail.

As usual, Ken Bruen delivered in spades with The Guards, and I've a few thoughts on Jason Starr's first novel that I'll hopefully get around to sharing. Right now, I'm reading The Dirty South by Alex Wheatle. It puts me in mind of the Noel Clarke movies, Kidulthood and Adulthood, and it's a nice easy read. I hope something big happens in the second half, though. The teenage protagonist's inner whining is starting to bug me a bit. I need him to stumble into a mad situation so I can see how he reacts, because I've no real respect or sympathy for him right now. He's just a bit of a prick, really.

Hmmm, I'm getting a bit negative here. Think I'll have a Lemsip and a smile and shut the f**k up.

A Wee Review - Vixen by Ken Bruen

Mike Stone brings us yet another entertaining review. Take it away, Mike!

I asked a question on these pages recently -- which Ken Bruen book should I read first? I was told The Guards and/or White Arrest.

So I bought the fifth Brant book, Vixen. Why? Cuz I’m such a maverick! But mainly because it’s a slim book and I’d just finished a thousand page door-stopper the night before. A novel I could read in a few days was an attractive proposition.

The vixen of the title is an insane female serial-killer named Angie James, who is apt to shoot, poison or stab somebody just to see what sort of face they pull as they die. Angie possesses not a single shred of humanity. She is beautiful, though, and casually manipulates two needy men into setting up a bombing campaign in south-east London for ransom money.

Chief Inspector Roberts gets chewed out by Superintendant Brown who demands a quick solution. The black WPC Falls is heading into alcoholism, the gay Porter Nash is heading for a breakdown, and it’s WPC Andrews’ first day on the job. Then there’s Brant. The reader is introduced to him on page 21, just as he’s getting a BJ from a prostitute.

Right.

Definitely not The Bill then.

On the evidence in Vixen, Brant is not a complex character. When he puts the boot into a pimp for beating up his girls, Brant does it because he enjoys meting out a kicking and because he knows it’s worth a shag or three. He abuses his colleagues, smokes and drinks where he likes, and drives like a maniac in borrowed cars. As for protecting his informers:

His last two had, respectively, been kebabed and drowned in a toilet. Word was out you talked to Brant you ended up dead and in horrible fashion. Plus, the villains were an added peril […].

The above quote is one of my favourite examples of Bruen humour. Here’s another:

Brant signalled to the waitress who was dressed in flamenco gear, with the name tag, ‘Rosalita’. She sashayed over and lisped:
“Si, senor?”
She was from
Peckham.

Cracking stuff.

When I mentioned Falls and Porter Nash above, you might have noticed I said ‘black WPC Falls’ and ‘gay Porter Nash’. In today’s society, a person’s skin colour or sexual orientation supposedly don’t matter, but in Bruen’s south-east London police squad it does. Racism and homophobia are rife. When Super Brown is told Falls has visited Nash in hospital, he remarks:

“That’s supposed to be some sort of reassurance, is it? A nigger visiting a pooftah. God, the police force is gone down the shitter.”

When a doctor confided to a nurse, “God help us if they’re the good guys,” I could only nod in agreement.

Vixen then is not a police procedural -- the actual detective work is minimal. Brant is the anti-Morse. But the pacing is rat-a-tat-tat and the dialogue is barbed. It’s unputdownable. I read it in a single sitting.

Bruen is brilliant.

Nuff said.

Michael Stone

Michael Stone was born in 1966 in Stoke-on-Trent, England. Since losing most of his eyesight to Usher Syndrome, he has retreated from your world to travel the dark corners of inner space. To put it more prosaically, he daydreams a lot.

Read more about Michael and his fiction here.

Great Book Week

Had me an excellent week for accumulating some quality reading. My little sis, Lisa B, feels guilty for missing another one of my birthdays as she's swanning around Australia at the minute. So her gift this year was very generous. Three books I'm practically salivating over.

Declan Burke's Eightball Boogie. I've been meaning to pick this up for a while now, and since I've recently completed A Gonzo Noir and enjoyed the heck out of The Big O few months ago, now's a great time for it. Plus I like pool. Wrote me own story, in which the game featured heavily, a few years ago. Pool Sharks. Got some good reviews for that one. Might post it here some day.

Ken Bruen's The Guards. I read Priest after happening upon it in a second hand bookshop quite some time ago. Thought it was a very powerful tale and that Jack Taylor was a hell of a character. And I really got a kick out of Bruen's dark but sparse style. Reading it was a masterclass in crime fiction. So I promised myself ages ago I'd go back to the start of the series and read it in order. Can't wait to crack it open now.

David Park's The Truth Commissioner. An excellent choice by my sis, as it's a very important (from what I'm hearing) post-Troubles novel. Kind of the whole idea of this site summed up in a critically acclaimed and very attractive hard back tome. This one must be read and critiqued post-haste.

And I'd made a couple of bargain purchases myself this week. Picked up a book by Gautam Malkani because I liked the look of the cover. I subjected Londonstani to a random page test and liked the energy in the writing, so I dumped it in the shopping basket. Also found a copy of Jason Starr's Cold Caller, so I asked the missus for a lend of a few quid an bought it too.

Then when I got home I found a package that had been flown all the way from sunny California. Inside? Two more books! Timothy Hallinan's A Nail Through The Heart and The Fourth Watcher. Both signed by the man himself, thanks to a competition held by Peter over at Detectives Beyond Borders.

Now all I need is a big-ass holiday and a pair of backup specs.