“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

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

“Ya Wanna Do It Here Or Down The Station, Punk?”: Robert Wilson

Yep, it’s rubber-hose time, folks: a rapid-fire Q&A for those shifty-looking usual suspects ...

What crime novel would you most like to have written?

THE LONG GOODBYE by Raymond Chandler.

What fictional character would you most like to have been?
Harry Morgan in Hemingway’s TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT (esp the film version, where he gets taught how to whistle by Lauren Bacall: ‘You just put your lips together and blow.’

What do you read for guilty pleasures?
Hello magazine at the dentist, even though I don’t know who anybody is any more.

Most satisfying writing moment?
Writing the journals of Francisco Falcón for THE BLIND MAN OF SEVILLE.

The best Irish crime novel is…?
THE BOOK OF EVIDENCE by John Banville.

Which Irish crime novel would make a great movie?
ASYLUM by Patrick McGrath (or has it been done and nobody told me?)

Worst / best thing about being a writer?
Worst thing about being a writer: the loneliness. Best thing about being a writer: the solitary nature of the work.

The pitch for your next book is …?
My pitch for THE IGNORANCE OF BLOOD is: El ultimo Falcón: Russian mafiosi and Islamist terrorists find inventive ways to make people dance to their tune in the sweltering heat of Seville.

Who are you reading right now?
Fiction: THE WHITE TIGER by Aravind Adiga. Non-fiction: DREAMS FROM MY FATHER by Barack Obama.

God appears and says you can only write or read. Which would it be?

Read. Who could resist a life of pleasure rather than endless dissatisfaction?

The three best words to describe your writing are ...?
Descriptive. Complex. Demanding.

Robert Wilson’s THE IGNORANCE OF BLOOD is available now

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Asylum was turned into a movie about five years ago staring Liam Neeson