“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

Friday, November 11, 2011

ABSOLUTE ZERO COOL: And The Winner Is …

A little bit of house-keeping today, folks. I ran a competition last week to celebrate being short-listed in the Irish Book Awards, offering a signed copy of ABSOLUTE ZERO COOL and asking people to nominate their favourite crime novel of the year so far. Thanks a million for your response, and for some very interesting suggestions, although I should say that the ‘judging’ process is entirely unscientific and very biased indeed. In other words, I’m going to award the signed copy to Michael Malone, this on the basis that he picked THE END OF EVERYTHING by Megan Abbott, which blew me away when I read it last month. It really is a superb novel - and, oddly enough, one of the least crime-driven crime novels I’ve read all year. Anyway, a signed copy of AZC is winging its way to Michael Malone as you read …
  Incidentally, if anyone is really, really desperate to get their hands on a signed copy of AZC, I’m reliably informed that they are available at the Liberties Press website
  Elsewhere this week, I was delighted to appear on TV3’s Ireland AM to promote both AZC and the Irish Book Awards. Ireland AM sponsors the crime fiction section at the IBA, although I think it’s worth pointing out that the programme - and Mark Cagney in particular - have been very supportive of Irish crime writers since long before the sponsorship began. If you’re remotely interested in seeing yours truly on the TV, clickety-click here
  Meanwhile, AZC received a very nice review from Sarah over at Crime Pieces. What I liked about it most was that Sarah came across the book courtesy of someone else posting about the Irish Book Awards short-list, and decided to read the book as a result. Which is, of course, the true purpose of any kind of award, I think. As nice as it would be to actually win the prize, I’m delighted that as a result of the nomination, AZC is now coming to the notice of readers who might not otherwise have heard of it. Of course, it’s also very nice that said readers actually like the book once they get to read it. Anyway, Sarah’s full review can be found here
  Finally, there’s still a week to go to the closing date for voting in the Irish Book Awards, which take place on November 17th. If you’d like to vote for anyone on the crime short-list, which also includes Benjamin Black, William Ryan, Jane Casey, Casey Hill and the inimitable Alan Glynn, just clickety-click here

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Wuhoo! I won! I never win anything, me.

Oh and FYI, my review of The End of Everything is live now over at crimesquad.com.

cheers, Dec.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations to the winner.

Sarah said...

Congratulations Michael and thanks Declan for the link to my review.