“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
5 comments:
Hey Declan, how are things?
Is Christopher Phillips doing any readings in Dublin? I'm working my way through 'Socrates in Love' at the moment...
Hi Sinead -
No word at the moment on Christopher appearing in Dublin, but if you contact the man himself - SocratesCafe@aol.com - I'm sure he'll be glad to put you straight.
Cheers, Declan
And another thing, 'Death in Belmont' by Sebastian 'The Perfect Storm' Junger - discuss. At length. In Bobby the Rookie's humble opinion, it's a fine piece of delayed reportage. And a nifty crime novel to boot. BY a fuckin' A writer. Even if he writes for Vanity Fair. Step it!
Keep talkin' that crazy talk, Kemosabe ... We'll be watching out for that 200-wd review of Belmont coming through the back window wrapped around a brick or we CAP your ass ... Talk to our people, bro: they pay in headless jellybabies. 'Nuff said, respeck.
... are we really still making ‘The Case for Raymond Chandler’? “The creator of Philip Marlowe has been called an imitator and a hack, but he deserves his lonely, disillusioned corner in the American literary canon,” says Allen Barra over at The Salon …
OK, that Allan Barra article is a few years old, but even then, he was sharing with us the excitement of a discovery we had made years earlier. It's nice that people still care enough to write about Chandler, though.
I was flipping through Ken Bruen's Calibre yesterday. I was intrigued by the protagonist's declaration that he can't read Chandler's novels anymore but can learn all that needs to be known about writing from his letters. I should dig up those letters. I've sometimes found the oft-quoted Chandler pronouncements a bit dated and stilted even if I agree with what he had to say.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
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