“Declan Burke is his own genre. The Lammisters dazzles, beguiles and transcends. Virtuoso from start to finish.” – Eoin McNamee “This bourbon-smooth riot of jazz-age excess, high satire and Wodehouse flamboyance is a pitch-perfect bullseye of comic brilliance.” – Irish Independent Books of the Year 2019 “This rapid-fire novel deserves a place on any bookshelf that grants asylum to PG Wodehouse, Flann O’Brien or Kyril Bonfiglioli.” – Eoin Colfer, Guardian Best Books of the Year 2019 “The funniest book of the year.” – Sunday Independent “Declan Burke is one funny bastard. The Lammisters ... conducts a forensic analysis on the anatomy of a story.” – Liz Nugent “Burke’s exuberant prose takes centre stage … He plays with language like a jazz soloist stretching the boundaries of musical theory.” – Totally Dublin “A mega-meta smorgasbord of inventive language ... linguistic verve not just on every page but every line.Irish Times “Above all, The Lammisters gives the impression of a writer enjoying himself. And so, dear reader, should you.” – Sunday Times “A triumph of absurdity, which burlesques the literary canon from Shakespeare, Pope and Austen to Flann O’Brien … The Lammisters is very clever indeed.” – The Guardian

Friday, February 1, 2008

Funky Friday’s Freaky-Deak

Being the weekly cornucopic round-up of stuff ‘n’ nonsense from the interweb we were too busy / lazy / underwhelmed to write up as fully fledged posts, to wit: Ken Bruen (resplendent in oils, right, courtesy of KT McCaffrey), gets hauled in for questioning by the Podcast Inspector over at the Podcast Pickle, answering, among other queries, ‘the one question he hasn’t been asked that he really wants to answer – namely, what he really thinks of the Irish police’ … Meanwhile, the Grand Vizier of Crime Always Pays, aka Declan Burke, turns up here on Pulp Pusher waffling on about the importance of characters’ names … Over at The Guardian, Ronan Bennett allows mere mortals to peer into his rather resplendent cave in their ongoing ‘Writers’ Rooms’ series … ress – Stop the Press – Stop the Press: Joan Brady update: the author gives her side of the infamous ‘fumes wot wrecked my life and made me write crime fiction’ story in a rather poignant piece with The Guardian … Mark Sarvas at The Elegant Variation alerts us to some Benny Blanco vids, including one we illegally uploaded to YouTube ourselves, albeit without giving us the credit. Boo … Finally, a rare treat for fans of hysterically histrionic pop-opera at its finest. Lifted from the soundtrack of 1984’s STREETS OF FIRE, the vid features Diane Lane in a backless velvet red dress coming over all Bonnie Tyler to the god-like genius Jim Steinman’s classic, Tonight Is What It Means To Be Young. A perfect storm, we call it … although it might help if you appreciate that your correspondent was an entirely impressionable 14-year-old the first time he clapped eyes on this six minutes of pure joy. Altogether now: “And if I can’t get an angel / I can still get a boy / And a boy’ll be the next best thing / The next best thing to an angel / A boy’ll be the next best thing …” Sigh. Roll it there, Collette …
The Big Question: Is it just us, or does Diane Lane remind anyone else of an ever-so-slightly younger Donna Moore?

5 comments:

Donna said...

Oh I WISH! I look like I've EATEN Diane Lane...and still had room for a nine course meal. I did have a dress like that ack in the 80s though. Ah, those shoulder pads.

Brian Lindenmuth said...

Streets of Fire is the greatest movie ever made. There I said it.

Declan Burke said...

I'm thinking a re-make of Streets of Fire, with Donna Moore playing the Diane Lane role opposite Johnny Depp as 'Cody' ... Did I mention I'm giving these ideas away for free? Brian - you've obviously lost the run of yourself, man. What about Footloose? Eh?

Brian Lindenmuth said...

From Michael Pare (what the hell ever happened to that guy) taking the butterfly knife away from the punk in the diner (then giving it back to him to try again) to Willem Dafoe with crazeee hair as a leather daddy bad guy on up to the climatic street fight with railroad hammers as the weapon of choice. Just a damn brilliant movie. Not quite up to the perfection that is The Warriors but damn close

Declan Burke said...

"I'm gonna take that bat, stick it up your ass and turn you into a popsicle."