Deadfolk [Paperback]

Charlie Williams (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 10, 2011

Royston Blake is head doorman at Hoppers Wine Bar & Bistro in the backwater English town of Mangel. He drives a Ford Capri 2.8i and can walk the streets of his town knowing he's respected by one and all—until a rumor begins to circulate that Blake's “lost his bottle.” Even his sharp-tongued girl, Sal, has overheard the talk that the formerly fearsome bloke has gone soft, lost his edge, and become a pushover in a town where he can ill afford it. To make matters worse, the violent Munton brothers are after him, and the thought of ending up in the back of their bloody Meat Wagon is almost too much to bear. Something's gotta give, but it sure as hell won’t be Blake. Following advice from his best mate, Legsy, Blake embarks on a plan to re-establish his reputation as a hard man, ensure his appeal to the women of Mangel, and seal his future with the new owner of Hoppers. The logic of the plan is sound: knock around Baz Munton a bit and regain the respect of Mangel's populace. But sound logic never really took off in Mangel, and Blake finds he’s got his work cut out for him. This brutal black comedy introduces a wholly original voice to the ranks of contemporary literature’s most memorable protagonists.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A Q&A with Charlie Williams

Question: Can you sum up Deadfolk in no more than 25 words?

Charlie Williams: A small-town bouncer’s courage is questioned, undermining his self-image as a local big-shot. Taking some bad advice, he sets about trying to prove himself. Things don't work out.

Q: Can you sum up your "hero" Royston Blake in a couple of sentences?

CW: A violent, ignorant thug with delusions of grandeur. But can we blame him, considering his environment?  

Q: What was your motivation for writing your Royston Blake series?

CW: I had tried writing several novels set in the world I lived in, but none of those really caught fire. Then I started writing something new, and the main character’s voice came out stronger and more clearly than anything I had written. He seemed to be inspired by a few guys I used to know as a teenager, whose whole view of life revolved around a misplaced concept of what it is to be a man. Along with his voice came the setting--a hellish exaggeration of my home town (Worcester, U.K.) which insisted on being called Mangel. When the story started taking shape, I wanted it to be the British equivalent of one of those small town American noir novels by guys like Jim Thompson. Whether or not it turned out like that, who cares? It got the damn thing done.  

Q: There is a lot of "bad" language in Deadfolk and the other books in the series. Do you think this limits the readership?

CW: I hope not. Royston Blake swears a lot, as do many people around him. But he is not really aware of it--he uses swear words like punctuation, to fill gaps and give rhythm to his sentences. This is just the way his voice came to me, and I didn't want to tinker with it. We all think these words, Royston Blake just says them aloud. For him, there is very little divide between his thoughts and his speech. And his actions.  

Q: You write crime fiction from the criminal perspective. What is it about this that interests you?

CW: I have tried having a policeman or some sort of investigator as the hero, but those characters always turn bad on me and reveal themselves as worse than the guys they are chasing. I'm not sure if I can explain this obsession with "differently moralled" protagonists. Maybe it's because I can always see both sides of an argument, and it tends to be the accused/perpetrator/transgressor who has the more flexible outlook on things. Cops and other seekers of justice are always dogmatic. I guess I like dogmatic characters too, but only so I can show how absurd they are.  

Q: What do you think is the key is to getting humour right in crime fiction?

CW: I don't try to make things funny. I never look for a joke and never think "three pages without a laugh--I'm losing it!" But these moments just suggest themselves as I am writing, and I grab them and shine them up. I think a lot of writers shut themselves off from that side. Many crime writers seem to think their work has to be grim and 100% serious--"we are dealing with REAL HUMAN TRAGEDIES here, folks. It's NOT FUNNY." I say it is funny. Remember at school, when the teacher was talking about something of the utmost gravity, and you caught that look from your classmate? You have to laugh, don't you? You know you shouldn't--that it's the most inappropriate thing to do--but that only makes it funnier. It makes it the funniest thing in the world.  

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Review

'Dripping with pitch black comedy and panache... this is compelling and highly enjoyable, albeit not for the squeamish' -- The Third Alternative, 2004

‘Charlie Williams has come up trumps... just enjoy the ride’ -- Guardian, 2004 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 284 pages
• Publisher: AmazonEncore; Advanced Reader's Copy edition (May 10, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1935597477
• ISBN-13: 978-1935597476
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,368,260 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Born in Worcester (UK) in 1971, Charlie Williams has written six books that have been published in five languages. Most belong in the crime category but there is often overlap with horror, sf and just plain weird, and no real game-plan to fit into any genre at all.

The first three - DEADFOLK, BOOZE AND BURN* and KING OF THE ROAD - are a trilogy set in Mangel, the provincial town from hell, narrated by nightclub doorman Royston Blake. Each was written so it could be read independently of the others or in any order.

STAIRWAY TO HELL is about a pub singer who finds out his body hosts the transmigrated soul of David Bowie, courtesy of some 70s voodoo by Jimmy Page. Although fiction, the story was based around true events. Go to charliewilliams.net and check the Stairway to Hell page for more on that.

2011 sees GRAVEN IMAGE (a novella about a brothel bouncer with a debt to pay) and ONE DEAD HEN (a fourth Mangel book, making it a tetralogy... but trilogy sounds better).

All of the books have received great reviews, some of which you can read here on Amazon. But steer clear if you hate swearing or love political correctness.

* original UK title: FAGS AND LAGER