Promotional Information

Irvine Welsh, the author of Trainspotting, is up to his old tricks with his new work of transgressive short fiction.

About the Author

Irvine Welsh was born and raised in Edinburgh. His first novel, Trainspotting, has sold over one million copies in the UK and was adapted into an era-defining film. He has written thirteen further novels, including the number one bestseller Dead Men's Trousers, four books of shorter fiction and numerous plays and screenplays. Crime and The Long Knives have been adapted into a television series starring Dougray Scott as Ray Lennox. Irvine Welsh currently lives between London, Edinburgh and Miami.

Reviews

Vigorous, stunningly funny...whimsical, warm, surreal, grotesque and brilliant
*Guardian*

Irvine Welsh is a terrific mimic... This collection of stories is a chorus of voices - rude, rough, discordant, filthy and often very, very funny. It's a pleasure to watch him larking about with the language... Brilliant
*The Times*

This new collection is a rambunctious return to the glory days of Trainspotting... Dazzlingly diverse... Sick and vigorous, written with Welsh's inimitable in-yer-face energy
*Sunday Telegraph*

This smutty, macabre collection exudes a compelling energy
*Daily Mail*

Scary, erotic and extremely funny
*Literary Review*

Several of the five stories in this collection from Welsh (Trainspotting) deal with one of society's ugliest realities, bigotry. Characters from disparate parts of society are thrown together in settings that are either geographical or moral deserts, there to display bigotry's main features: fear, obstinacy, and unenlightenment. In "The Kingdom of Fife," by alternating the narrative between the repulsive but charming Jason and his unlikely paramour, the well-to-do Jenni, Welsh seems to suggest that we can break the cycle of bigotry only by listening to and genuinely getting to know one another. Incidents are as dramatic as they are unlikely-decapitation by road sign, poisonous snake strike on male genitalia-yet, because of Welsh's skill as a storyteller, the consequent action is tremendously funny and makes the original event believable. Despite occasionally slipping into the British argot in narratives set in America with American characters, these exceptional stories give readers a glimpse into the lives of people with whom most would not ordinarily come into contact. Recommended for public and academic libraries.-K.H. Cumiskey, North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

Vigorous, stunningly funny...whimsical, warm, surreal, grotesque and brilliant * Guardian *
Irvine Welsh is a terrific mimic... This collection of stories is a chorus of voices - rude, rough, discordant, filthy and often very, very funny. It's a pleasure to watch him larking about with the language... Brilliant * The Times *
This new collection is a rambunctious return to the glory days of Trainspotting... Dazzlingly diverse... Sick and vigorous, written with Welsh's inimitable in-yer-face energy * Sunday Telegraph *
This smutty, macabre collection exudes a compelling energy * Daily Mail *
Scary, erotic and extremely funny * Literary Review *