Declan Burke: How Late Late It Was, How Late Late

“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

Thursday, July 12, 2007

How Late Late It Was, How Late Late

Sir Kenneth of Bruen was on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson the other night promoting Priest,

and we’re hearing mixed reactions about how he got on – Peter over at Detectives Beyond Borders posted on the topic under the header ‘A shite television interview with a fine writer’, which may or may not give you some idea of where Peter was coming from, while Ed Gorman reckoned Ken was “Cool, humorous, witty, and swift enough to keep up with Ferguson, who is one seriously hopped-up guy.” Confused? You will be if you jump over here for a vid upload excerpt at TV Eyes – the bit about Hell’s Angels reading as they speed down the highway will stay with us for quite a while …

3 comments:

Sandra Ruttan said...: I thought Ken did a fantastic job. Not everyone is cut out for late night tv, able to think on their feet quickly and be entertaining and interesting. I understand some feel they would have liked more serious discussion, but given the nature of late night programming this was exactly what I expected. (I should note I'd never watched Craig Ferguson before, so my expectations were not based on him per se, just my general impressions of late night tv.); July 13, 2007 at 5:02 AM
Declan Burke said...: Hi Sandra - Given what I've seen of Ken Bruen on TV in the past, he's quick enough to adapt to any situation, and able to entertain no matter what. I think you're right about the constraints of late-night TV, that there's a certain expectation to keep things light and frothy, which doesn't really gel with Ken's novels ... but hey, as they say, there's no such thing as bad publicity. Cheers, Declan; July 13, 2007 at 9:52 AM
Peter Rozovsky said...: My take is that the show had to have been frustrating for people who know Bruen's work already and now that he has matters of substance to discuss. Viewers who had never ehard of him might think, "Hey, he's a funny and entertaining guy who gets blurbs from Hell's Angels, so maybe he's all right."

But none of that did me much good. That's TV's fault, not Bruen's. You two are authors, so maybe you can appreciate the value of publicity more than I can!

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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/; July 13, 2007 at 4:33 PM