A Cruel Man Delighting in Flowers
...the mildness to which men ... had yielded was only half of the intoxication of beauty, while the other half ... was of such surpassing and terrible cruelty—the most cruel of men delights himself with a flower—that beauty ... failed quickly of its effect...
Hermann Broch, The Death of Virgil
Jeremy Davies is made of ink, but don’t dip a feather in him. It tickles. He once painted a fingernail black and no one really noticed. He was disappointed. He’s also an editor, a religious atheist, a liker of strong coffees, a Shakespeare-lover, a political anarchist and someone who rarely has a pen when he needs one. He has been a PhD candidate, a personal trainer, a life model, a bouncer, an infantry soldier and someone who rarely had a pen when he needed one. He has had words published in a variety of places, in a variety of publications, in a variety of forms, in a variety of moments: Canada, Wet Ink, SMS and twelve minutes past three in the afternoon being some of these. His first novel, 'Missing Presumed Undead', will be re-published by Satalyte Publishing in February 2014. A second is on its way.
Trainspotting
A fascinating read and a very complex novel about the human condition. There is much more here than just a story about drug addiction and drug culture. Welsh manages to use a range of addictions and a range of characters to chart a kind of disaffected existential condition that any thinking person should be able to appreciate. There is plenty to shock you, particularly how ordinary the process of shock can be, as opposed to over-the-top histrionic shite. The voices are very affecting and the structure sometimes confusing, but certainly worth the effort. This is one of the great novels of the 20th century.
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