“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

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

The Best Things In Life Are Free … Books

The generous folk at Serpent’s Tail have been kind enough to offer us three copies of Adrian McKinty's THE BLOOMSDAY DEAD to give away, with the blurb elves wittering thusly:
Michael Forsythe might be, as one of his assailants puts it, ‘un-fucking-killable’, but that doesn’t seem to deter people from trying. He’s living in Lima, reasonably well-hidden by the FBI’s Witness Protection Program, but Bridget Callaghan, whose fiancé he murdered twelve years ago, has an enduring wish to see him dead. So when her two goon assassins pass him the phone to speak to her before they kill him, Michael thinks she just wants to relish the moment. In fact, out of desperation, she is giving him a chance to redeem himself. All he has to do is return to Ireland and find her missing daughter. Before midnight. Tenacious and brutal, with the hunted man’s instinct for trouble, Forsythe leaves a trail of mayhem as he tries to end the bloody feud once and for all. THE BLOOMSDAY DEAD pulsates with break-neck action and wry literary references; McKinty’s distinctly Irish voice packs a ferocious punch.
Those dulcet tones? Shurely shome mishtake. Anyhoo, to be in with a chance of winning a copy, just answer the following question.
Is the structure of THE BLOOMSDAY DEAD loosely modelled on:
(a) ULYSSES;
(b) ANNA KARENINA;
(c) THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS;
(d) Sorry, I came over all unnecessary from the heady waft of testosterone. What was the question again?
Answers via the comment box, leaving an email contact address (please use (at) rather than @ to confuse the spam-munchkins), before noon on Thursday, June 19. Et bon chance, mes amis

13 comments:

Josh Schrank said...

I hear a warped, Irish, "Oh Brother Where Art Thou" in the making... I'm going with A. Well, actually I'm going with Mandy at the present time, but if we ever break up I'm definitely going with A.

Unknown said...

Uh, A

But being me, I could argue for any of them.

plastic.santa (at) gmail.com

Patricia said...

Hey, doesn't that look like your cover, except your gun is smokin'?

Josh Schrank said...

Patricia, are we talking about his book?

Declan Burke said...

Thanks, Patricia. I have it on good authority the books are actually unidentical twins, separated at birth and raised on different continents, only for them to come together again years later via some deus ex machina to discover how much they have in common. I'm thinking there might be a book in it ... Cheers, Dec

Anonymous said...

I say A. Nice timing, I am just reading The Dead Yard and was drawn over by that strong waft of testosterone.

Unknown said...

Is the structure of THE BLOOMSDAY DEAD loosely modelled on:

A big bad D

Anonymous said...

Hi Dec

I will go with a)Ulysses.

Thanks
Fiona

fiona.mccartney(at)oceanfree.net

Anonymous said...

I'm newly single so my answer has to be (d). Definitely (d) baby.

norby871 (at) yahoo.com

Anonymous said...

Well...the answer is probably A. But it ought to be D. Life is sometimes complicated like that

Alan Cranis
acranis at cgi.edu

Anonymous said...

Forgot to include me name. Try again: The answer is A, but it ought to be D. There! That's better.

acranis(at)cgi.edu

Anonymous said...

A part of me wants to say (a), but to be honest, I have to go with (d).

lawlis42(at)yahoo.com

P.S. Since I've got a beautiful crop of cherries from my tree this year, I'm hocking cherry pie now. Hope that's okay.

Anonymous said...

everyone seems to have the same thoughts. i say the answer is A but i do prefer D.

lone_hammy (at) yahoo.com.sg