“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

Monday, October 1, 2007

The Embiggened O # 491: Holy Moly, It’s Reed Farrel Coleman!

Being the latest adventure in our continuing odyssey adrift on the perilous seas of independent publishing … You may or may not recall that we’ve been persecuting various writers to give THE BIG O a bit of a hup-ya, the better to improve our paltry chances of getting our humble offering published in the USA. Anyhoo, we dropped Reed Farrel Coleman a line, slavered a little, doffed the cap we’d bought specially for the occasion, and then asked if he’d mind reading our grubby little tome. And lo! He did! What’s more, he actually blurbed the hell out of it, to wit:
“No such thing as coincidence? Don’t tell that to the glorious band of cast-offs and misfits that populate the pages of Declan Burke’s uncanny THE BIG O. With a deft touch, Burke pulls together a cross-genre plot that’s part hard-boiled caper, part thriller, part classic noir, and flat out fun. From first page to last, THE BIG O grabs hold and won’t let go.” – Reed Farrel Coleman: Shamus, Barry, and Anthony Award-winning Author of THE JAMES DEANS
All of which is lovelier than Nicole Kidman guesting on trumpet break in a Forever Changes-era Love cover band. But the best thing(s)? Reed Farrel Coleman owes us nothing, needs us for nothing, and can gain absolutely nothing by doing us a favour. Better still, THE JAMES DEANS is one hell of a read, and Moe Prager – for those in the know – is the realest of private eye deals. So are we happy? To paraphrase Leonard ‘Laughing Lenny’ Cohen, we haven’t been this happy since the end of World War II ...

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