Chris Brookmyre
Christopher Brookmyre (b. September 6, 1968) is a Scottish novelist whose novels mix politics, social comment and action with a strong narrative. He has been referred to as a Tartan Noir author. [1] His debut novel was Quite Ugly One Morning and subsequent works have included One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night, which he said "was just the sort of book he needed to write before he turned 30"[citation needed], and All Fun and Games until Somebody Loses an Eye (2005).
Biography
Brookmyre was raised and schooled in Barrhead, attending St. Marks Primary School and St. Luke's High School, before attending the University of Glasgow. [2] Brookmyre is married to an anaesthetist and supports St Mirren F.C., references to Scottish football ('fitba') frequently featuring in his books.
Novels
Five of Brookmyre's novels (Quite Ugly One Morning, Country of the Blind, Boiling a Frog, Be My Enemy and the recently released Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks) centre on the investigative journalist Jack Parlabane. Parlabane's unorthodox, occasionally criminal methods usually see him catching all manner of "white collar" villains, from murderous NHS Trust managers (Quite Ugly One Morning) to rogue secret service chiefs (Country of the Blind, Be My Enemy). The character is very anti-authoritarian and frequently curses institutions such as the government, media and intelligence services.
Through Parlabane, Brookmyre articulates what might be argued as a radical viewpoint, with the "bad guys" invariably belonging to the Establishment. Most vitriolic is Boiling a Frog, in which Parlabane tracks down massive corruption and murder in the then newly fledged Scottish Government and the Catholic Church. This latter novel is also notable for countering readers' accusations that Parlabane had become too good at his work, as it opens with him in prison following a conviction for breaking and entering. It also reveals that the character's full name is John Lapsley Parlabane.
Brookmyre's new novel, A Snowball In Hell, was due to be titled The Great Grease-Tailed Shaven Pig Hunt.
Bibliography
- Quite Ugly One Morning, 1996
- Country of the Blind, 1997
- Not the End of the World, 1998
- One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night, 1999
- Boiling a Frog, 2000
- A Big Boy did it and Ran Away, 2001
- The Sacred Art of Stealing, 2003
- Be My Enemy, 2004
- All Fun and Games until Somebody Loses an Eye, 2005
- A Tale Etched in Blood and Hard Black Pencil, 2006
- The Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks, 2007
- A Snowball In Hell, 2008
Influences
Brookmyre has said that the inspiration for Jack Parlabane was Ford Prefect from Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series; he said "I always adored the idea of a character who cheerfully wanders into enormously dangerous situations and effortlessly makes them much worse." [3] The name Parlabane is taken from the works of Robertson Davies as are the names of several other characters in Brookmyre's works, indicating another of the author's influences.
Art Alexakis, of the band Everclear has been thanked by Brookmyre inside the front cover of two of his books - Be My Enemy and Sacred Art Of Stealing. Brookmyre has said that Sacred Art was inspired by the Everclear song 'Unemployed Boyfriend' from the album Songs from an American Movie, Vol. 1: Learning How to Smile. This is the song which the lead character, Zal Innez, discusses with Angelique De Xavia.
In other media
In 2003, Quite Ugly One Morning was dramatised in two parts by ITV, with the lead played by Irish actor James Nesbitt. None of Brookmyre's other novels have been adapted for television, but his short story Bampot Central was rewritten as a radio play by the author for BBC Radio.
In 2004, actor David Tennant narrated the audiobook of Quite Ugly One Morning.
In 2007, actor Billy Boyd narrated the audiobook of Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks.
Recurring Characters
Brookmyre's books contain a number of recurring characters, especially the appearance or mention of major characters (such as Parlabane) in incidental roles in other stories. Some of the recurring characters are listed below:
- Jack Parlabane
- Sarah Slaughter, anaesthetist and ex-wife of the murder victim in Quite Ugly One Morning. She and Jack are married.
- Angelique de Xavia, the diminutive but deadly police officer from A Big Boy Did it and Ran Away, The Sacred Art of Stealing and A Snowball In Hell.
- Tim 'Death's Dark' Vale, the head of security on the Floating Island Paradise Resort in One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night, is revealed as an associate of Jack Parlabane in Country of the Blind when Sarah accuses Jack of having got his gun from Vale. They then join forces in Be My Enemy.
- Simon Darcourt, the Black Spirit, is the "hero" of the short story Mellow Doubt, though, unless you have read A Big Boy Did it and Ran Away, you wouldn't get the reference. He is also in A Snowball In Hell.
- Steff Kennedy, the hero of Not the End of the World, is mentioned as the photographer who took the picture of the Arguments for their single sleeve in A Big Boy Did It and Ran Away.
He has stated that he would like to write another book featuring Zal Innez, one of the main characters in The Sacred Art of Stealing.
Awards
- Quite Ugly One Morning was the winner of the Critics' First Blood Award for Best First Crime Novel of the Year in 1996.
- Bampot Central was shortlisted for the Crime Writers' Association Macallan Short Story Dagger in 1997.
- Boiling a Frog won the Sherlock Award for Best Comic Detective in 2000.
- All Fun And Games until Someone Loses an Eye was the winner of the seventh Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction in 2006.
References
External links
- Christopher Brookmyre at the Internet Book List
- Quack science Article by Brookmyre in New Humanist, September/October 2007