“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, October 22, 2008

Tales From The Cryptic

There’s more to Paul Nagle’s debut novel IRONIC than meets the eye, folks. Quoth his interweb flummery:
“Can you figure out the Ironic cryptic clue I have written into the story? I have written the answer and placed it in a gold envelope and lodged it in a bank vault for safe keeping. It will be revealed in September 2009. If you want to participate all the details are printed on the back page of the book.”
  A gold envelope, eh? Nice. Mind you, we’re still a bit in the dark as to what you actually win if you work out the cryptic clue in advance. Is there an actual prize, or do you just get that smug glow that comes with being a pain-in-the-arse shitehawker?* We need to be told. If anyone in the Paul Nagle camp can put us wise, we’d be very grateful.
  Meanwhile, the first of the cryptic clues comes in the vid below, courtesy of YouTube, with cryptic clues 2-4 also available on the same YouTube page. Roll it there, Collette …
* Peter? That’s a gratuitous one, especially for you ...

4 comments:

Dana King said...

I think I get it. Shitehawker = bullshit artist?

Declan Burke said...

A wilful bullshit artist, Dana ... a 'messer', as we'd say in Ireland.

Cheers, Dec

Anonymous said...

A prize? Hmmm, what about the honor to actually be the one that solve the cryptic clue? A prize would be nice on top of that. What about the story itself, ahve you read the book?

Jan

Anonymous said...

The prize might be a gold bar. The book is very good. Interesting characters that some people could really relate to without realising before. Some interesting twists too. I have almost solved the cryptic clue, am on the right track anyway.