Archive - August 2021

1
Photos, Promotions & Purchases
2
6 Irvine Welsh Novels Reviewed
3
My Trip To Wales & A Surprise From Germany
4
8 Palahniuk Novels Reviewed.

Photos, Promotions & Purchases

It’s been a few weeks since I posted photographs of deer. Three roe deer have been making regular appearances near my house of late. Here are two of them.

The buck.

All three together.

It seems that much of the world has been afflicted by extreme heat this summer. However, the UK has escaped this trend for the most part. It has been a disappointing summer in terms of weather, but it has been sunny of late.

What a treat.

I finally took the plunge and purchased a new ironing board cover. Voilà.

Recently, there have been promotions for two of my books. From my experience BookBub is the only worthwhile place to run a promotion with. I had an International (non US) promotion with them for Tomorrow’s World, which went quite well. The other outfits reaped lacklustre results.

BookBub is the gold standard of book promotion. But that doesn’t make their competitors silver and bronze; rather cardboard and asbestos. Perhaps other authors have different experiences. I hear ENT are quite good, and no doubt some of the others are too.

6 Irvine Welsh Novels Reviewed

It has been a non-eventful week, so I’m reverting to my trusted subject that is books. I am an avid fan of Scottish transgressive author Irvine Welsh. Here are 6 Irvine Welsh books that I have read. Click on the links to read my reviews.

Skagboys

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Skagboys is a work of Transgressive Fiction whose main focus is many of its characters increasing obsession with heroin.

My Review: Skagboys is the prequel to Trainspotting. Its colourful, mostly young characters hail from the Edinburgh port suburb of Leith. There is the bookish, unambitious …(more)

Glue

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Set in the author’s customary stomping ground, this episodic tome (556 pages) is in essence about growing up.

My Review: Glue is about four friends who hail from Scotland’s capital, Edinburgh. It begins with them as infants in the 1970s, and ends at the dawn of the new …(more)

Marabou Stork Nightmares

This is an inventive book, boasting parallel stories and different levels of awareness. It is peppered with stylistic idiosyncrasies. 

My Review: Roy Strang narrates this story from the hospital in which he is lying in a coma. It begins in South Africa, where he and his friend Sandy Jamieson are hunting the …(more)

Dead Men’s Trousers

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This work of transgressive fiction is infused with humour. The action takes place in Scotland and America.

My Review: The Trainspotting crew are back for another adventure. These days Mark Renton is a successful manager of DJs. Begbie is a famous artist, living the dream in California …(more)

The Blade Artist

The complex and manipulative protagonist, sordid characters and squalid descriptions will appeal to fans of the transgressive genre. 

My Review: Reformed Scottish ex-con Jim Francis (formerly Franco Begbie) is now a successful sculptor living the dream in sunny California with his former prison art therapist …(more)

A Decent Ride

This is one of Welsh’s lighter books. Its seediness, humour and bawdy Leith vernacular will appeal to many.  

My Review: Terry ‘Juice’ Lawson is an Edinburgh taxi driver who moonlights as a porn actor and drug fixer. Since losing his virginity at the age ofeleven, he has been obsessed with …(more)

My Trip To Wales & A Surprise From Germany

I went to Wales last week. Like many of you no doubt, it had been a long time since I had travelled so far from home. Here are some pictures from my time away.

The weather was variable, as to be expected considering the location. The fluctuating weather did allow for some good photographs.

The steam train we went on.

It took a scenic route.

Some of the shops did not keep reliable hours.

Anyone else a fan of sea bass?

Eggs benedict – what a great way to kick off the day.

Shortly after returning from Wales I received these in the post from Germany.

The German-language hardback edition of Symbiosis. Symbiose in Deutsch.

8 Palahniuk Novels Reviewed.

Here are eight Chuck Palahniuk books that I have read. Click on the links to read my reviews.

Choke

Choke is in essence a social commentary about our innate craving for attention and the fundamental nature of addiction.

My Review: The protagonist, Victor Mancini, is a sex addict employed at an eighteenth-century historical re-enactment park. Victor attends various sexual addiction support groups, where he …(more)

Damned

Damned is a a light-hearted satire of hell, punctuated with comical details, pop-culture references and Theological irony.

My Review: The protagonist is thirteen-year-old Madison, the daughter of wealthy alternative parents.  The privileged Madison studies at an exclusive Swiss boarding school and spends her holidays alternating …(more)

Doomed

After escaping from Hell Madison Spencer (protagonist of Damned) is forced to spend a year languishing on Earth as a ghost.

My Review: Doomed is the sequel to Damned and part two of a proposed Dante inspired trilogy. It sees the return of Damned’s protagonist – the plucky, post-life, plump, periphrastic … (more)

Fight Club

The book’s narrator becomes friends with an anarchist by the name of Tyler Durden. The duo form a fight club.

My Review: The protagonist, who remains nameless, is an insomniac leading a bland corporate existence, investigating accidents for a car company, whose only concern is profit … (more)

Haunted

This series of short stories explore a variety of themes, including the media-obsessed nature of society.

My Review: Haunted is about a group of writers, who have been assembled by the conniving Mr Whittier to attend a writers group. The location of the retreat is in an isolated theatre with … (more)

Invisible Monsters

The book’s premise, the superficial vanity of the beauty industry, is used both to explore the unattractive side of human nature.

My Review: Shannon McFarland is a catwalk model, who is the centre of attention wherever she goes. That is until she ‘accidentally’ blasts her jaw shot off with a gun whilst driving down the highway. Shannon is left …(more)

Rant

Rant challenges our own traditions by demonstrating how we contort our recollection of events in accordance with our desires, motives and beliefs.

My Review: Rant is the oral history of Buster ‘Rant’ Casey, recounted by an array of people including his relations, friends, enemies and lovers. Rant’s childhood companions from the …(more)

Survivor

Survivor is an innovative and erudite social commentary, brimming with satirical observations and irreverent humour.

My Review: Tender Branson, the last survivor of the Creedish Church cult, has hijacked an aeroplane, which is now flying on autopilot. His objective: to dictate his life story onto …(more)

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