“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

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

“Ya Wanna Do It Here Or Down The Station, Punk?” # 2,005: Ian Sansom

Yep, it’s rubber-hose time, folks: a rapid-fire Q&A for those shifty-looking usual suspects ...

What crime novel would you most like to have written?
THE MOONSTONE by Wilkie Collins.
What fictional character would you most like to have been?
Augie March; Moses Herzog; Von Humboldt Fleisher. Basically, anyone in a novel by Saul Bellow.
Who do you read for guilty pleasures?
Poets and philosophers.
Most satisfying writing moment?
If I was ever satisfied I would stop writing.
The best Irish crime novel is …?
Not necessarily written by an Irishman or Irishwoman.
What Irish crime novel would make a great movie?
Any of the novels of Freeman Wills Crofts.
Worst / best thing about being a writer?
Best: you’re your own boss. Worst: you’re not your own boss.
The pitch for your next book is …?
Embarrassing. Books should not be pitched. Only balls can be pitched.
Who are you reading right now?
Kurt Vonnegut.
God appears and says you can only write OR read. Which would it be?
Honestly, that would be sooo God. He’s always coming up with that either/or stuff. It shows a total lack of imagination. Reading is writing. Writing is reading. One leads naturally to the other.
The three best words to describe your own writing are …?
Yes. Yes. Yes.

Ian Sansom’s THE DELEGATES’ CHOICE is published by HarperPerennial

No comments: