Better The Neville You Know

A prolific chap, Neville Thompson (right), and one not afraid to take chances. MORE STREETWISE: STORIES FROM IRISH PRISONS is the sequel to STREETWISE, the collection of stories written by inmates in Irish prisons and edited by Thompson, who runs writing classes in his role as part-time prison teacher. Quoth the Killynon House blurb elves:

MORE STREETWISE is an eye-opening collection of stories by inmates from Portlaoise and Midlands Prisons. These insightful stories are inspired by the writers’ own experiences of being involved in crime, while other stories reflect on life in prison and seeking the path to redemption. Their stories give a unique insight into the minds of some criminals who are now serving sentences in Ireland. The prisoners involved in the writing of this book are donating their royalties to Autism Ireland.

Meanwhile, Thompson also has his latest novel to promote. A SIMPLE TWIST OF FATE is a bittersweet, twisted love story, a two-hander told by an Irish man and a Thai prostitute. Back to those overworked Killynon House blurb elves:

Frank is a fat kid growing up on the streets of Dublin. Bullied at school, mollycoddled at home and ignored at work, he decides to leave it all and have a chance at life. Min was born into a happy if poor loving family. Then, tragically, both her parents died and she is forced into working the streets of Thailand to make ends meet. One fateful night, Min and Frank meet on a beach … and it’s love at first sight. But will others be happy to let them find true happiness?

Erm, you’d expect not or it’d be a pretty short book. For more info, toddle on over to Neville’s interweb blog yokeybus …

The Neville Will Find Work For Idle Hands To Do

One of the hardest working men in Irish crime fiction, Neville Thompson (right) has more fingers in more pies than yon Sweeney Todd - writer, editor, playwright, enabler of aspiring scribes and much more, all the details of which are here on his shiny new interweb thingy. Most pertinently, Neville has a new novel on the way, A Simple Twist of Fate, to wit:

“When I went to Thailand on holliers I couldn’t get over the amount of prostitutes and the age at which they started into it. I loved the country but hated that. I also wanted to pay homage to a film I seen years ago, Last Exit to Brooklyn, and I took the name of the book from the song on Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks. That song tells the story of a fella falling in love with a prostitute and my book has elements of that too. It’s the latest and there is always a certain feeling of pride about your latest work but I love this book. It’s a move away from my normal but not too far removed.”

Neville? Colour us intrigued already. Keep us posted, sir …