“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, December 11, 2007

“Ya Wanna Do It Here Or Down The Station, Punk?” # 1,594: Felicity McCall

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 BIG SLEEP / Raymond Chandler. Great novel, iconic B/W film.
Who do you read for guilty pleasures?
My 17-year-old daughter Aoife’s collection. HOW I LIVE NOW / Meg Rosoff is brilliantly original.
Most satisfying writing moment?
Seeing a book of mine displayed in the same window as a seminal work by my journalist hero, Robert Fisk.
The best Irish crime novel is …?
THE BOOK OF EVIDENCE / John Banville, and I loved the combination of readability and fine writing in FAREWELL TO THE FLESH / Gemma O’Connor.
What Irish crime novel would make a great movie?
Brian McGilloway’s Benedict Devlin is made for a long-running television series. I’ve urged him to think in that direction.
Worst / best thing about being a writer?
Switching mentally between the world of the work-in-progress and the basics of everyday life, during the intensive writing stage.
The pitch for your next novel is …?
A mother’s legal battle against a judgment-by-morals to win back custody of her daughters after she’s cleared of assaulting her infant. And the solicitor who fought her case to the highest court in the jurisdiction, and won – making legal history. Based on real-life events.
Who are you reading right now?
Alice MacDermott, archive news material for an inquest this week, and a collection of scripts from emerging playwrights. With Eoin McNamee’s 12:23 PARIS saved for Christmas.
The three best words to describe your own writing are …?
Intense, perceptive, cynical. Or maybe that’s me.

Felicity McCall’s FINDING LAUREN is published by the Guildhall Press.
Posted by at
Labels: ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)