Books, films, telly, songs, bonfires, chainsaws, driving, chopping things down, trying to play stringed instruments, walking my dogs, scary things, pubs, pizza, beer, whisky, the look on a person's face after they drop their mobile phone and realise it's fucked, book/record tokens, the Malvern Hills, France, Canterbury, San Sebastian, marzipan...
Music
Maximo Park, Mansun, Richey-era Manics, Beatles, Stones, Hendrix, Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Nick Drake, Nick Cave, Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding, The Pogues, Johnny Cash, Guns n Roses, Placebo, Robert Johnson, Eric Bibb, The Smiths, Elvis...
Movies
The Exorcist, The Wicker Man, An American Werewolf in London, Jacob's Ladder, Pulp Fiction, Dead Man's Shoes, Scarface, A Clockwork Orange, The Big Lebowski, Fargo, Calvaire, Stalker, Lost Highway, Seven, Eraserhead, Nightmare Alley, Carnival of Souls...
Television
Curb, Boosh, Patridge, Peep, Garth, Muran Buchstansangur, Sledge Hammer, Hammer House of Horror, Mad Men, whatever gems I can find in this sea of crap TV...
Books
I did a list of my top ten reads a while back. Also there are these that I wrote myself:
"Makes the insipid heroes of lad lit look like a bunch of big girls' blouses. The more politically correct among you can read this as social comment, the rest can just enjoy the ride." - The Guardian
"300-odd pages of squalor, f-, s- and c- words, extreme violence and drugs, the odd hint of perversity, monstrous sly humour and all with no redeeming social message whatsoever. Whilst through it all strides the probing intelligence of Royston Blake. What more could you possibly want?" - Tangled Web
"Royston Blake is a boastful, aggressive, foul-mouthed, psychopathic hard-man of the utmost political incorrectness, a failure at everything he does but an indomitable believer in his own cleverness and sex appeal. He’s also a careless multiple killer (though insistent that it was never his fault). In short, a thoroughly unpleasant and dislikeable character. Why, then — this is a great mystery — is it so enjoyable to read about him?" - The Times
Heroes
Also Jim Thompson, Bernard Hopkins, Roger Bannister, Charles Willeford, Bill Hicks
I wrote the books DEADFOLK, FAGS AND LAGER, and KING OF THE ROAD. The hero of these books is Royston Blake, a mentally fragile doorman who has been described by the BBC as a "dazzling creation of well-intentioned prejudice and overblown machismo, dripping with dramatic irony, who would rather spare the upholstery of his 2.8i Ford Capri than ferry a wounded mate to hospital". Sounds alright to me. I'd add that he's obsessed with Rocky III, Clint Eastwood, Elvis and (for a while) Minder. There is a bit more about him down there in the "books" section.
These books are published by Serpent's Tail in the UK and US, and there are also various foreign editions including Italy (MORTACCI out from Baldini Castoldi), Spain (GENTE MUERTA from Factoria de Ideas), France (LES ALLONGÉS from Gallimard/Série Noire) and Russia (???????? from AST/Tough Press). Why all the translations? I can only assume that there are shit towns from which you cannot escape in these countries too. And mentally fragile doormen.
Hopefully, wherever you are, you will be able to locate the books if you want to. If not, there's always Amazon.co.uk (or USA). Or drop me a line if you're still stuck. Or you could just buy The Da Vinci Code. Or Captain Correlli's Mandolin.
I was raised in Worcester and still live (near) there. To the untrained eye this is an unassuming town in the Midlands, but in reality it is the battleground for the ongoing war that is waged between Good and Evil (every Saturday night). In the late 15th century Hieronymous Bosch visited the area and managed to tap off with a local wench whilst strolling in sunny Cripplegate Park. Later on he puked on the dancefloor at Tramps and was thrown out, then got sucked into the eternal melee of fists, foreheads, and kebabs that is Angel Place. These experiences inspired him to paint the left ("Heaven") and right ("Hell") wings of The Garden of Earthly Delights. (The central panel is Milton Keynes.) Anyway, Worcester seems to be the inspiration for virtually everything I write, including the three aforementioned novels. I think I want to simultaneously destroy this town and declare it the glittering centre of the universe.
Chicks dig scars, everyone knows that, right? Meet Severence DeSnappio, a man who creates ‘fake’ injuries for desperate clients. He’ll get you a stab wound, shot gun blast, snowboarding injury - but a bite from a great white shark?
Set in Miami, Chicks Dig scars is a lyrical, Lynchian mix of dream logic and hard boiled detection.
If you would like to read a sample of one of the stories from ISLINGTON CROCODILES’ you can do that now as one of the stories is posted on the Islington Crocodiles blog page. RAIDERS is the disturbing story of Barwise and Micky.
As Graham Joyce says in his foreword to ISLINGTON CROCODILES, ‘This is the edge.’
Just wanted to thank you properly for taking us for a friend - That's very appreciated! TAD is driven by the wind & most of all our myspacefriends. No promotion,label,booking etc so - It means a lot :^) All the best your way for an spectacular sunday*!
A special DVD set of the February shows is now available to pre-order at the wire-sound shop
This strictly limited edition 2 disc, region free, PAL format DVD set will be shipped in June.
The ‘Real Life + Thereafter’ DVD contains the entire concert filmed at Manchester Academy …
PLUS … Extra features include ‘Feed The Enemy’ filmed at the rehearsals, an alternate take of ‘A Song From Under The Floorboards’ and exclusive images from the period …
PLUS … On the second CD disc, you get an audio recording straight from the desk of 11 songs from the show at The Forum, London …
PLUS … In the package, you get a free tour T-Shirt in any size you like ranging from Super Small to Mighty XL and all stops in between.
Happy Holidays! Hope you’re enjoying the season so far. Seems it has been quite some time since I spent some time on Myspace. I have been busy altering my website at www. tonycowger. com to reflect my newest efforts in the freelance and ghost writing markets and focus less on my own novel. Anyway, I hope the rest of your year is wonderful and that the new year holds all the abundance you want. If you or someone you know is in need of some writing help please send them my way at www. tonycowger. com. (For any help I receive from my Myspace friends I am offering a 10% finders fee to say thank you for helping out a friend so be sure to write and let me know in case your friend forgets to tell me. If you hire me yourself, that 10% would be taken off what you pay so, either way, you win.) I have experience in writing sales ads/presentations, non-fiction and, of course, fiction. Thanks and happy holidays!
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