On Galvinising The Irish Publishing Industry

Crikey, but Vincent Browne is a busy man, these days. Not content with running a media empire and persecuting the presidential candidates on TV, he’s also opened what appears to be a sideline in launching books. Last week he did the honours for Tom Galvin’s GABRIEL’S GATE; tomorrow evening, Friday October 14th, he’ll be at the Guinness Storehouse to officially launch Gerry Galvin’s KILLER A LA CARTE. The Big Question: is Vincent Browne on a one-man mission to (koff) galvinise the Irish publishing industry? Answers on used, non-sequential notes to the usual address, please …

A Trumpet Blast, Maestro, For GABRIEL’S GATE

Irish crime writers have been touching on the consequences of the economic recession for some years now - Declan Hughes, Tana French, Alan Glynn, Ken Bruen and Gene Kerrigan are among the more high-profile names, and a little bird tells me that there’s a similarly themed novel from Rob Kitchin on the way - but it appears that there’s a full-blown Recession Lit on the way. In the vanguard is Tom Galvin’s ominously titled GABRIEL’S GATE, about which the blurb elves have been wittering thusly:

In 2010, when the recession took root in Ireland, the young people looked at the ground they were standing on and realised it was rotten. Rotten in so many ways, but especially in the ways made by man. So most decided it was time to do what their forefathers had done during times of famine, when the ground was rotten too, and leave. For America. And Australia. And Canada. But in the winter of 2010, a group of college students had a different idea. They weren’t going to leave. They would simply find a patch of land that hadn’t been contaminated and live off it. Just like their forefathers had always done before the land became rotten and the country corrupted by greed …

  As you might expect, the post-hippy commune doesn’t exactly work out to plan, and it’ll be interesting to see how the book reads against a backdrop of the Arab Spring and the Occupy Wall Street campaign. Vincent Browne will launch GABRIEL’S GATE for Tom Galvin this coming Thursday, October 6th, at the Doorway Gallery, 24 Sth Frederick’s Street, Dublin 2, with festivities kicking off at 7pm. All, as if it needs to be said, are welcome …

Funky Friday’s Free-For-All: In Which ‘Fab’ Vinnie Browne Opens A Can Of ChateauNeuf du Pape Whup-Ass On Bertie's Pert Buns

Who says crime always pays? Not when ‘Fab’ Vinnie Browne is on the prowl and coming on like Dirty Harry on a good hair day (see vid below). Will Bertie Ahern be able to – oh yes! – get his house in order before the general election kicks in, or has Vinnie finally flithered every last shred of the erstwhile emperor’s new clothes? Or, pushing the boat out, should we just elect the arm-chancing genius on the right (nope, the arm-chancer on the right, folks - the one wearing the 'Been there, bought the Taoiseach' t-shirt). What’s that you say? What do Patrick Bartholomew’s finances have to do with our stated remit of reporting on Irish crime fictions? Erm, nothing. Nothing at all. That’s all for this week, folks – y'all come back here now, y'hear?