| Author | Message | ||
     Stu (Stu) Username: Stu Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 86.29.186.70 |
Do Derek Raymond's Factory novels need to be read in the right order? He Died With His Eyes Open has been sitting on my shelf for years but I just picked up a copy of I Was Dora Suarez and was wondering if it makes any difference if I skip ahead to that one. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
Stu, by happy synchronicity I've been noticing novels by Derek Raymond with increasing frequency in the second hand shops recently and after reading some of the blurb had been meaning to ask on here if he was worth checking out. I know he's described as the Godfather of British noir but it was a dystopian sci-fi novel of his I had in my hand made me wonder was there more to this writer... should I invest? | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
Don't worry, Stu. Continuity aspects are very slight and unimportant. All you need to know is that at the end of the novel before I Was Dora Suarez, the Detective Sergeant was suspended for breaking a colleague's jaw in a fit of rage over a case. You'll enjoy I Was Dora Suarez. It's a masterpiece. Apart from some botched medical detail – biology wasn't Raymond's strong point. | ||
| Stu (Stu) Username: Stu Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 86.29.186.70 |
Stevie, you're better off asking Joel about Raymond's novels than me. I still haven't got round to reading any of the ones I've got. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
'A State Of Denmark' was the book I nearly bought on a whim just from the blurb and knowing nothing about the author (any dystopia that is seriously compared to '1984' has to be worth checking). Since then I've started noticing more and more of his books and they seem to be calling to me now lol. So, Joel, is he the British equivalent of Dashiell Hammett or what?!  | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.240.106 |
I haven't been reading them in order, and apparently it makes no difference. Steve - try him. He'll be another genius to add to your list. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
Not the British equivalent of Dashiell Hammett, no. Somewhere in the combined territory of Thomas Harris and early James Ellroy. Bitter, literary and very harsh indeed. Raymond claimed that 'Suarez' had to be submitted twice after the editor threw up over the first copy. | ||
| Simon Bestwick (Simon_b) Username: Simon_b Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 86.24.165.4 |
The Factory books can indeed be read in any order, but they get progressively darker and bleaker in tone, and the Sergeant's character is explored in greater and greater detail each time. 'A State Of Denmark' is an early novel, but it's absolutely brilliant. Furious, bleak and chilling. By the time I'd finished it I'd privately nicknamed Tony Blair 'Jobling' (you'll need to read the book to get that one.) As well as a bloody good dystopian novel it's also profoundly unsettling as it progresses- incredibly oppressive and unsparing. Stewart Home hated it, slagging it off in a vicious review for 3 AM. But then he's a prick, so I just take that as a further recommendation. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 82.17.252.126 |
Sounds good... I just hope those books I spotted are still there when I go back lol. |