Out Now
The Incredible Adam Spark
Publisher:
Review
Release Date: 29th August, 2005
Cover by Scott Garrett, © Hodder Headline.
Adam Spark. Eighteen going on eight-and-a-half. Fast-food worker. Queen fan. Last in the queue for luck. On waking from an accident in which he saves a child, he has the distinct impression that all is far from right. What are these curious lights that seem to surround people? Why are animals and machines trying to speak to him? And can he really control time? Is it just his imagination, or has Adam Spark been chosen to become Scotland’s first, and only, superhero?
This, however, is the least of his problems. The local gang is luring him into deeper and darker peril. His sister and lone carer, Jude, is giving all her love to another woman. And if Jude abandons Adam – or Adam drives her away – all the superpowers in the world won’t be able to save him.
The Incredible Adam Spark is a moving, hilarious, fantastical adventure – a story about having to choose between good and evil in a world which makes it hard to tell the difference.
Here are what some reviewers think about it:
"A simplistically brilliant stream-of-consciousness … A book for anyone who wants to be humorously reminded how lucky they are."
- Buzz
"Adam is the creation of the extraordinary Alan Bissett … brilliant and poignant. You can’t put a barcode on a character like Adam Spark"
- Sydney Morning Herald
"Adam Spark is a virtuoso literary creation… Bissett is taking his animated and emotionally raw prose to another level. Sparky is a wonderfully unique character who manages to evoke both great sympathy and, at times, revulsion. This is a fresh and exciting read."
- Scotland on Sunday
"There's nothing quite like Alan Bissett's fizzy, upbeat fiction in the republic of Scottish letters… He totally inhabits the mind of his main characters, and he does so with wit and panache and a huge sugar-rush of energy."
- The Scotsman
"Sparkling. Its pace is pulsating and its energy electric. Plug yourself in."
- Des Dillon
"Considerable ingenuity has been expended… Extravagantly written… An ambitious novel with much to admire. Sparky is a terrific character."
- Scottish Review of Books
"Every page treads a fine line between belly chuckle and tear-jerker. Bissett’s colloquial mastery sucker-punches you with effortless style. Bizarre, hilarious and moving." (5 out of 5 stars)
- The Big Issue
"Sparky's vivid, authentic voice allows Bissett to explore difficult questions of 'good' versus 'evil' without falling back on easy answers, while the developing relationship between Adam and Jude is movingly depicted." (4 out of 5 stars)
- The List
"Something amazing has happened in the world of modern Scottish fiction: a totally new piece of fiction written in an unorthodox way. Bissett has given us something unique, as far removed from formulated creative writing as Falkirk is from Gotham City. …Displays one of the best uses of the Scots modern colloquial language I have encountered since Alan Warner's ‘Morven Caller’."
- Laurahird.com
"An energetic stream of consciousness narrative… Sparky is engaging and refreshingly ambiguous… An interesting and thought-provoking novel that makes for an intriguing addition to the panoply of emerging Scottish fiction."
- The Glasgow Herald
Available Now
Boyracers
Publisher:
Polygon
Release Date: September 15th, 2001
Cover by Pete Dyer, © Polygon.
Being a book about Alvin, Frannie, Dolby, Brian, Belinda (doing eighty), Tyra the Beautiful, Connor fucking Livingstone, Stephen King, Pink Floyd, peach schnapps (and lemonade), hope, dreams, Scotland, death-defying driving, Goodfellas, Irn-Bru, tenpin bowling, FHM, love and money, Alvin's Dad, American Psycho, car crashes, paranoia, The Lord of the Rings, U2, infinity, Brian's nipples, noddies, text messages, barmaids, virginity, Radiohead, The X-Men, exams, Frannie's patter, the death of punk, Tom Cruise, nightclub bouncers, Falkirk High School, Clive Barker, the emptiness at the heart of it all, weapons, Spider-Man, Han Solo, a desolate future in which no one loves anyone else, Hotel California, the universe, Blur, Bruce Springteen, and everything under the sun is in tune, as the sun is eclipsed by the moon…
Here's what some people thought about it:
"If James Kelman was 30 years younger and had been exposed to the same pop detritus as Douglas Coupland was, he'd be Alan Bissett."
- The Sunday Herald.
"A vibrantly energetic and poignant tale."
- Scotland on Sunday.
"Out Welsh-es Welsh. A ferociously paced saga of Falkirk youth."
- Douglas Gifford, The Scotsman.
"Launched with the adrenalin rush of a bull entering the ring, Boyracers fires off a technicolour display of Falkirk special effects, racing us through the main drag and suburbs, the pubs and clubs, even the high school precincts… Bissett’s style is infectious. There is real emotion here, and gutsiness. There’s also a feeling for language so passionate it shames the dullness of so many sentences that make it into print."
- Rosemary Goring, Sunday Herald
"One of the best things I’ve read in ages."
- Ali Smith
"A terrific yarn… Superb from start to finish."
- FHM
"Fucking brilliant. A wonderful debut in the grand tradition of REM’s Murmur, The Smiths and Is This It by The Strokes."
- Douglas Maxwell
"A breakneck dash through the back streets of Falkirk… a comedy, almost a tragedy, a caustic look at what has passed for culture in the last decade… Bissett’s acute depiction of the Scottish teenage boy, stuck in that curious limbo between kid and adult, is wonderfully vivid."
- The Big Issue in Scotland
"An outstanding first novel… Required reading for those who understand and live its message."
- Carl McDougall, Glasgow Herald
Cover by Barrie Tullet, © Polygon.
Available Now
Damage Land: New Scottish Gothic Fiction
Publisher:
Polygon
Release Date: 29th April, 2001
If you can stomach my wank introduction and rather eccentric bibliography, you’ll find some absolutely brilliant stories in here from some of Scotland’s best writers. They are:
Alison Armstrong John Burnside, Sophie Cooke, Linda Cracknell, Toni Davidson, Chris Dolan, Michel Faber, Janice Galloway, Magi Gibson, Laura Hird, Jackie Kay, Helen Lamb, Brian McCabe, Maggie O’Farrell, James Robertson, Dilys Rose, Andrew Murray Scott, Ali Smith, Raymond Soltysek and Christopher Whyte.
"There is nothing hackneyed about these stories, each offering a contemporary twist on the turrets-and-ravens concept of Gothic…Bissett’s contemporary take on the Gothic is intelligent and the quality of contributions high."
- The Sunday Herald
"Brings together many of Scotland’s literary heavyweights….There is considerable satisfaction to be had from this anthology."
- The Scotsman, Read of the Week
"Takes the gothic out of its clichéd environments and relate it to contemporary concerns…Damage Land is a treasure chest of creepy and quirky treats showcasing the diversity of Gothic fiction and 20 of its newest voices."
- The Montreal Gazette
