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Books : Fiction : Contemporary Fiction: 1970 Onwards : Authors A-Z : S : Sampson, Kevin
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The first page of this excellent debut novel shows a map of Birkenhead featuring the Tranmere Rovers football ground, the train line to Wrexham and an arrow pointing to Chester. Not exactly the definition of chic? Well in 1979, it wasn't far off. Awaydays is about "The Pack", a gang of Tranmere Rovers Hooligans who terrorise those northern towns unfortunate enough to have a third division football team. But Awaydays is also about the implications of Margaret Thatcher's first government, the music of Joy Division and the Only Ones, youth unemployment, the explosion of heroin use, the rise of the casual street movement and what young people do when the world gets tough. The protagonist is caught between two worlds. Called Carty by the lads in the Pack and Paul by his family, he has nine O- Levels and acknowledges a tendency to "lay the accent on a bit thick when I'm with the pack, but I modulate it for all sorts of situations. I can go very posh indeed". When his worlds inevitably collide Carty is forced to making a life-changing decision. Should he stay or should he go? Take an Awayday and find out.
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In Outlaws, Moby and his brothers-in-arms, Ged and Ratter revel in the glory of being "Faces", respected kingpins of the Mersey underworld. As Moby, a fast-living, wisecracking Scouse entrepreneur with a flexible attitude to the law, and a crippling fondness for lap-dancers, says, "I do not half mind being a Somebody in Liverpool."But as the season of goodwill approaches, and the need to make fast cash looms like an old enemy, the Outlaws see that their world is changing. A new breed of somebodies is clamouring at the gates of their little kingdom--a growing army of ruthless young wannabes, trigger-happy upstarts for whom words such as Honour and Loyalty are best consigned to the history books. Retirement and respectability suddenly seem like enticing prospects for the Outlaws, but can they get out alive before their own petty rivalries tear them apart? The "noble thief" is a cliché, and so is the formula of villains killing themselves in their bid to become pillars of the local Golf Club. But Sampson's fourth novel offers a thoroughly fresh take on a timeless story. Outlaws transcends the dreary preoccupations of gangsta fiction through two things: its vividly drawn characters and its ceaselessly witty use of language. Its trio of narrators are not "Goodfellas" with Brookside accents, but complex men struggling to conquer a thoroughly real world. They do so with a mixture of charm, cunning and unforgivable viciousness--and the result, for the reader, is an exhilarating battle between sympathy and revulsion. Fans of Awaydays and Powder will relish a further excursion into the mysteries of modern-day Merseyside, and everyone looking for a comic, intelligent gangster yarn can stop searching. Ged, Ratter and Moby might be struggling to pull off the Big One, but Kevin Sampson has done it in spades. --Matthew Baylis
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Keva McCluskey, lead singer of Liverpool band The Grams, is convulsed with jealousy when their inferior rivals Sensira hit the headlines. But a fortuitous meeting with society Trustafarian Guy de Burret boots the unsuspecting Grams straight into the harsh limelight. The band's camaraderie is rent asunder, as a bewildering host of journalists, music moguls and parasites works its sinister magic. The Grams have to fight to save their minds, their bodies and their friendship. They win, lose and ultimately, win again in this bacchanalian tale of sex, drugs. And rock'n'roll.Powder describes a world riddled with falsehoods in an entirely truthful voice. Sampson knows the business inside out, and the book teems with the sort of detail few music lovers could conceive of. Ordinary lads turned rock gods acquire some laughable foibles, and Sampson draws his characters, and their picaresque adventures, with laugh-out-loud wit and often moving warmth. (Keva's worst fear is turning 30, while drummer Beano only wants a nice girl to cook him stew). This is a breathless, adrenaline-fired tale-- whether you are a vinyl junkie or watch the pop world in fascinated horror, you will find Powder as bewitching as the world it depicts. --Matthew Baylis
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The Mersey might still be one of the world's muddiest rivers, but the Liverpool depicted in Kevin Sampson's Clubland is keen to leave its murky past behind. Brussels-bound bureaucrats toast the success of the post-Toxteth regeneration; young people are flocking to its universities and money men are clambering over each other for a slice of the lucrative club trade.Veteran gangster - and hero of Sampson's earlier thriller Outlaws--Ged Brennan wouldn't normally turn down an opportunity to earn more money. He's got a wife and kids with decidedly upmarket tastes, after all. But he's also got strong principles. The idea of a decriminalised zone in the heart of clubland--where prostitution and drug use would be tolerated--appals him. Unfortunately, he's not in the best position to fight a crusade. The council are head-hunting him as the figurehead for their latest scheme. He's just handed over a string of strip clubs to his wayward--and distinctly warped--cousin Moby. And there's Marguerite, hot-shot lawyer and Haitian ice-queen. Who, in addition to being the widow of Ged's dead brother, has very much her own ideas about the future of clubland.
This is a highly original tale of tangled loyalties, set against a backdrop of shifting values. Ged Brennan is a protagonist to rival TV's Tony Soprano: gentlemanly and coarse, principled yet disarmingly ruthless. His journey through the mean streets of Merseyside is sometimes shocking, sometimes disturbing, always tinged with wit. Read it--and be grateful you're not living it.--Matthew Baylis
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The first page of this excellent debut novel shows a map of Birkenhead featuring the Tranmere Rovers football ground, the train line to Wrexham and an arrow pointing to Chester. Not exactly the definition of chic? Well in 1979, it wasn't far off. Awaydays is about "The Pack", a gang of Tranmere Rovers Hooligans who terrorise those northern towns unfortunate enough to have a third division football team. But Awaydays is also about the implications of Margaret Thatcher's first government, the music of Joy Division and the Only Ones, youth unemployment, the explosion of heroin use, the rise of the casual street movement and what young people do when the world gets tough. The protagonist is caught between two worlds. Called Carty by the lads in the Pack and Paul by his family, he has nine O- Levels and acknowledges a tendency to "lay the accent on a bit thick when I'm with the pack, but I modulate it for all sorts of situations. I can go very posh indeed". When his worlds inevitably collide Carty is forced to making a life-changing decision. Should he stay or should he go? Take an Awayday and find out.
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The Mersey might still be one of the world's muddiest rivers, but the Liverpool depicted in Kevin Sampson's Clubland is keen to leave its murky past behind. Brussels-bound bureaucrats toast the success of the post-Toxteth regeneration; young people are flocking to its universities and money men are clambering over each other for a slice of the lucrative club trade.Veteran gangster - and hero of Sampson's earlier thriller Outlaws--Ged Brennan wouldn't normally turn down an opportunity to earn more money. He's got a wife and kids with decidedly upmarket tastes, after all. But he's also got strong principles. The idea of a decriminalised zone in the heart of clubland--where prostitution and drug use would be tolerated--appals him. Unfortunately, he's not in the best position to fight a crusade. The council are head-hunting him as the figurehead for their latest scheme. He's just handed over a string of strip clubs to his wayward--and distinctly warped--cousin Moby. And there's Marguerite, hot-shot lawyer and Haitian ice-queen. Who, in addition to being the widow of Ged's dead brother, has very much her own ideas about the future of clubland.
This is a highly original tale of tangled loyalties, set against a backdrop of shifting values. Ged Brennan is a protagonist to rival TV's Tony Soprano: gentlemanly and coarse, principled yet disarmingly ruthless. His journey through the mean streets of Merseyside is sometimes shocking, sometimes disturbing, always tinged with wit. Read it--and be grateful you're not living it.--Matthew Baylis
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In Outlaws, Moby and his brothers-in-arms, Ged and Ratter revel in the glory of being "Faces", respected kingpins of the Mersey underworld. As Moby, a fast-living, wisecracking Scouse entrepreneur with a flexible attitude to the law, and a crippling fondness for lap-dancers, says, "I do not half mind being a Somebody in Liverpool."But as the season of goodwill approaches, and the need to make fast cash looms like an old enemy, the Outlaws see that their world is changing. A new breed of somebodies is clamouring at the gates of their little kingdom--a growing army of ruthless young wannabes, trigger-happy upstarts for whom words such as Honour and Loyalty are best consigned to the history books. Retirement and respectability suddenly seem like enticing prospects for the Outlaws, but can they get out alive before their own petty rivalries tear them apart? The "noble thief" is a cliché, and so is the formula of villains killing themselves in their bid to become pillars of the local Golf Club. But Sampson's fourth novel offers a thoroughly fresh take on a timeless story. Outlaws transcends the dreary preoccupations of gangsta fiction through two things: its vividly drawn characters and its ceaselessly witty use of language. Its trio of narrators are not "Goodfellas" with Brookside accents, but complex men struggling to conquer a thoroughly real world. They do so with a mixture of charm, cunning and unforgivable viciousness--and the result, for the reader, is an exhilarating battle between sympathy and revulsion. Fans of Awaydays and Powder will relish a further excursion into the mysteries of modern-day Merseyside, and everyone looking for a comic, intelligent gangster yarn can stop searching. Ged, Ratter and Moby might be struggling to pull off the Big One, but Kevin Sampson has done it in spades. --Matthew Baylis
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Keva McCluskey, lead singer of Liverpool band The Grams, is convulsed with jealousy when their inferior rivals Sensira hit the headlines. But a fortuitous meeting with society Trustafarian Guy de Burret boots the unsuspecting Grams straight into the harsh limelight. The band's camaraderie is rent asunder, as a bewildering host of journalists, music moguls and parasites works its sinister magic. The Grams have to fight to save their minds, their bodies and their friendship. They win, lose and ultimately, win again in this bacchanalian tale of sex, drugs. And rock'n'roll.Powder describes a world riddled with falsehoods in an entirely truthful voice. Sampson knows the business inside out, and the book teems with the sort of detail few music lovers could conceive of. Ordinary lads turned rock gods acquire some laughable foibles, and Sampson draws his characters, and their picaresque adventures, with laugh-out-loud wit and often moving warmth. (Keva's worst fear is turning 30, while drummer Beano only wants a nice girl to cook him stew). This is a breathless, adrenaline-fired tale-- whether you are a vinyl junkie or watch the pop world in fascinated horror, you will find Powder as bewitching as the world it depicts. --Matthew Baylis
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Keva McCluskey, lead singer of Liverpool band The Grams, is convulsed with jealousy when their inferior rivals Sensira hit the headlines. But a fortuitous meeting with society Trustafarian Guy de Burret boots the unsuspecting Grams straight into the harsh limelight. The band's camaraderie is rent asunder, as a bewildering host of journalists, music moguls and parasites works its sinister magic. The Grams have to fight to save their minds, their bodies and their friendship. They win, lose and ultimately, win again in this bacchanalian tale of sex, drugs. And rock'n'roll.Powder describes a world riddled with falsehoods in an entirely truthful voice. Sampson knows the business inside out, and the book teems with the sort of detail few music lovers could conceive of. Ordinary lads turned rock gods acquire some laughable foibles, and Sampson draws his characters, and their picaresque adventures, with laugh-out-loud wit and often moving warmth. (Keva's worst fear is turning 30, while drummer Beano only wants a nice girl to cook him stew). This is a breathless, adrenaline-fired tale-- whether you are a vinyl junkie or watch the pop world in fascinated horror, you will find Powder as bewitching as the world it depicts. --Matthew Baylis
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Keva McCluskey, lead singer of Liverpool band The Grams, is convulsed with jealousy when their inferior rivals Sensira hit the headlines. But a fortuitous meeting with society Trustafarian Guy de Burret boots the unsuspecting Grams straight into the harsh limelight. The band's camaraderie is rent asunder, as a bewildering host of journalists, music moguls and parasites works its sinister magic. The Grams have to fight to save their minds, their bodies and their friendship. They win, lose and ultimately, win again in this bacchanalian tale of sex, drugs. And rock'n'roll.Powder describes a world riddled with falsehoods in an entirely truthful voice. Sampson knows the business inside out, and the book teems with the sort of detail few music lovers could conceive of. Ordinary lads turned rock gods acquire some laughable foibles, and Sampson draws his characters, and their picaresque adventures, with laugh-out-loud wit and often moving warmth. (Keva's worst fear is turning 30, while drummer Beano only wants a nice girl to cook him stew). This is a breathless, adrenaline-fired tale-- whether you are a vinyl junkie or watch the pop world in fascinated horror, you will find Powder as bewitching as the world it depicts. --Matthew Baylis
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Keva McCluskey, lead singer of Liverpool band The Grams, is convulsed with jealousy when their inferior rivals Sensira hit the headlines. But a fortuitous meeting with society Trustafarian Guy de Burret boots the unsuspecting Grams straight into the harsh limelight. The band's camaraderie is rent asunder, as a bewildering host of journalists, music moguls and parasites works its sinister magic. The Grams have to fight to save their minds, their bodies and their friendship. They win, lose and ultimately, win again in this bacchanalian tale of sex, drugs. And rock'n'roll.Powder describes a world riddled with falsehoods in an entirely truthful voice. Sampson knows the business inside out, and the book teems with the sort of detail few music lovers could conceive of. Ordinary lads turned rock gods acquire some laughable foibles, and Sampson draws his characters, and their picaresque adventures, with laugh-out-loud wit and often moving warmth. (Keva's worst fear is turning 30, while drummer Beano only wants a nice girl to cook him stew). This is a breathless, adrenaline-fired tale-- whether you are a vinyl junkie or watch the pop world in fascinated horror, you will find Powder as bewitching as the world it depicts. --Matthew Baylis