John Herdman – författare

John Herdman's masterpiece of the modern Scottish Gothic appears in print from Leamington Books' imprint Gothic World Literature Editions, with a new introduction from the author.Black humour and even blacker lives collide in a tale of love and murder on an old Borders family estate.In a grotesque story told from two contrasting angles we meet the arrogant genius, Frank, and his hated brother Hubert.Raw and immoral, Imelda is a puzzle, mocking the reader in its quest for answers. Murder and madness this way lie―but who if anyone is to be believed in unpicking the deadly secrets behind the birth of cousin Imelda's child?An assured masterpiece from Scotland's greatest living chronicler of the dark side, Imelda, first published in 1993 became an instant classic of Scottish letters.

The absurd, the grotesque, Thomas Clapperton, hypochondriac, egomaniac, Scotsman, misanthrope, misogynist, menagerie keeper ... has a date.His romantic rendezvous is with the girl across the road, Trudy Otter. Although Trudy only has an incestuous eye for her brother, Rex.The most dysfunctional of all beings rub against each other in the desperate search for human happiness in John Herdman''s gothic miserene, Clapperton.Also in this volume, The Devil and Dr Tuberose. The equally unbalanced Dr Marcus Tuberose battles legless infantry of demons until he finally confronts the devil himself, embodied in the family dog of his blessed colleagues. A tale of transgressive madness from the master of the Scottish Gothic, John Herdman.Two tales of the mania, derangement and the psychopathy peculiar to the Caledonian Antisyzygy. Brace yourself for hilarity, ridicule and an exquisite dose of oddity.ALSO IN THIS EDITION: Complete Herdman Bibliography, spanning six decades of creative output."Perhaps in the very combination of opposites — what either of the two Thomases, of Norwich and Cromarty, might have been willing to call "the Caledonian antisyzygy" — we have a reflection of the contrasts which the Scot shows at every turn... we need not be surprised to find that in their literature the Scots present two aspects which appear contradictory. Oxymoron was ever the bravest figure, and we must not forget that disorderly order is order after all." G. GREGORY SMITH, Scottish Literature: Character and Influence"I was struck by Herdman''s wry, philosophical bent, his acute sense of place and perception and anguish at the plight of the human condition .... But despite the pitch darkness and seriousness of his themes, Herdman is an appealing writer, with a clipped, laconic and lugubrious wit, capable of swiftly etching a scene .... goodness knows why John Herdman is not much better known than he is." Alan Taylor, The Sunday Herald"Herdman''s writing is a feat of great wit and invention." Scotland on Sunday"It is a tribute to Herdman''s writing that he evokes so many writers without ever seeming to imitate them .. the quality of Herdman''s fantastic imaginings commands respect." Christopher Whyte"John Herdman skilfully treads a vertiginous edge between satiric comedy and high seriousness." The Scotsman

John Herdman''s masterpiece of the modern Scottish Gothic appears in print from Leamington Books, with a new introduction from the author.Black humour and even blacker lives collide in a tale of love and murder on an old Borders family estate. In a grotesque story told from two perfectly contrasting angles we find the arrogant genius, Frank, known as ''Superbo'', and his hated brother Hubert.Raw and immoral, Imelda is a puzzle, mocking the reader in its quest for answers. Murder and madness this way lie―but who if anyone is to be believed in unpicking the deadly secrets behind the birth of cousin Imelda''s child?An assured masterpiece from Scotland''s greatest living chronicler of the dark side, Imelda, first published in 1993 became an instant classic of Scottish letters.

A delicious study in paranoia from the master of the modern Scottish Gothic.Ghost-writer Leonard Balmain finds himself drawn into an unwanted complicity with the dark revelations unfolding within that of his subject ― the mysterious Torquil Tod.When Tod's tale turns into murder and sexual betrayal, Leonard realises he knows too much and is in danger of ending up on the very pages of Tod's turbulent history.Black magic, sacrificial murder and cannibalism collide in an uneasy voyage towards, and from beyond, the grave."A dark, cautionary tale, utterly compelling and charged with Herdman's unwavering sense of irony and his sharp satirical bite."Brian McCabe, The Scotsman."A story of deception and betrayal, of obsession and confused identities, but more importantly it is Herdman's best novel."Carl MacDougall, The HeraldBlack magic, sacrificial murder and cannibalism collide in an uneasy voyage towards, and from beyond, the grave.Brian McCabe, The Scotsman ."A powerful evocation of the uncanny psychological bonding between ghost biographer Leonard Balmain and his elusive and sinister subject, Torquil Tod..... Herdman captures very clearly the tone of the dramatic monologues of Hogg and Stevenson, while managing to maintain a contemporary resonance."Douglas Gifford, Books in Scotland"Hogg's and Stevenson's manic private memorists meet the postmodernist theories they anticipated. Cleverly, Ghostwriting investigates the paradoxes of narrative itself ... The novel wears its intellectual sophistication lightly."Gavin Wallace, Chapman

Bob Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in June 2016, and seldom in recent years has it been more richly deserved.That a song writer''s lyrics should be regarded as literature was an idea at which many were surprised.Others have felt that to isolate the lyrics of a song from its musical context is unreal. Ultimately that is true: a song is an indefeasible whole, an inseparable marriage of words and music which achieves its overall emotional effect by that symbiosis and not otherwise.Yet it can also be said that the two components can be separately considered as two elements in the artist''s creative utterance, and discussed as such.The evidence of Dylan''s manuscripts supports the view that in writing his lyrics his way of going about things is not always widely different from that of a poet.Bob Dylan commented on the Nobel Prize in Literature which was awarded to him "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition": "When I first received this Nobel Prize for Literature, I got to wondering exactly how my songs related to literature. I wanted to reflect on it and see where the connection was."Voice Without Restraint, refers to and is from the song "I dreamed I saw St Augustine" on John Wesley Harding, and is a phrase chosen to evoke the full-blooded commitment to his artistic utterance which is the hallmark of Bob Dylan''s voice – in all senses.

An Edinburgh advocate experiences humiliation and terror in a surreal Scottish Highland adventure.Donald Humbie, leaving behind his career and his wife in Edinburgh, heads north to familiar places for a short break. Unfortunately, the familiar places have become unfamiliar and increasingly hostile.Each setting, each character, each event is an unsettling side-step away from normality in a dark, surreal landscape that has Donald fleeing manically around the country. Fearing that his wife has been abducted, he seeks out MacNucator, a private detective, to find her.Meanwhile the Sinister Cabaret, led by the strange and unfathomable Mr Motion, pursues him relentlessly.John Herdman''s characters inhabit a dark universe illuminated by his profoundly laconic wit. In the Sinister Cabaret he continues the exploration of extreme states of mind and ambiguous interior worlds with the Gothic imagination, which has led critics to compare him with James Hogg and R L Stevenson.Gothic, surreal, and type Jungian to the max, this hypnagogic novel from John Herdman will take you to the edge of reason."The narrative combines a series of journeys and encounters, an atmosphere compounded of nightmare, comedy and erudition, which is uniquely Herdman... There is a quality of surreal experience, comic nastiness, metaphysical horror ... the always gripping narrative becomes intense and moving."An Edinburgh advocate experiences humiliation and terror in a surreal Scottish Highland adventure.Donald Humbie, an Edinburgh advocate of every kind of substance, undergoes an interior experience of humiliation and terror, totally losing his way in a surreal Scottish Highland adventure.Donald Humbie, leaving behind his career and his wife in Edinburgh, heads north to familiar places for a short break. Unfortunately, the familiar places have become unfamiliar and increasingly hostile.Each setting, each character, each event is an unsettling side-step away from normality in a dark, surreal landscape that has Donald fleeing manically around the country. Fearing that his wife has been abducted, he seeks out MacNucator, a private detective, to find her.Meanwhile the Sinister Cabaret, led by the strange and unfathomable Mr Motion, pursues him relentlessly.John Herdman''s characters inhabit a dark universe illuminated by his profoundly laconic wit. In the Sinister Cabaret he continues the exploration of extreme states of mind and ambiguous interior worlds with the Gothic imagination, which has led critics to compare him with James Hogg and R L Stevenson.Gothic, surreal, and type Jungian to the max, this hypnagogic novel from John Herdman will take you to the edge of reason."The narrative combines a series of journeys and encounters, an atmosphere compounded of nightmare, comedy and erudition, which is uniquely Herdman... There is a quality of surreal experience, comic nastiness, metaphysical horror ... the always gripping narrative becomes intense and moving."Isobel Murray, The Herald & Scottish Studies Review

John Herdman''s beautiful and mysterious Edinburgh tale, Pagan''s Pilgrimage, first published in Scotland 1978.With nascent love abandoned and the recurring presence of the creeping ''wrinkled-nosed'' laundry man of a traumatic childhood, the stagnating life of Pagan must be revived by the discovery of a somewhat questionable raison d''être ― the assassination of an aristocrat.The spleenful nature of Herdman''s titular protagonist and a selection of odd experiences perfectly sets up a strife deep within himself: can Pagan commit to his partially book-found life-calling, tangled into his pilgrimage?In Pagan''s Pilgrimage, John Herdman expertly demonstrates his capacity to evoke complicatedly moralising characters with haunting effect. Equal parts absurd and ephemeral Pagan''s Pilgrimage is an enigmatical Edinburgh tale."A sustained and often brilliant performance ... sheer comic invention and verbal ingenuity ... This is an observant, intelligent and humorous novel of great merit."Alan Bold, The Scotsman".... the writing is brilliant .....a kind of exploration of the Scottish soul .... An unforgettable piece of writing."Cuthbert Graham, Press & Journal"There is a seriousness at the heart of it, a wide philosophical background, and an acute psychological verity ... all that I have spoken of will delight you."Catherine Lockerbie, The Student"Remarkable in its clarity and disturbing in its implications. The novel is an impressive construct, amusing, climactic, at times dreadful, and locked together in tidily effective prose."David Campbell, Scottish Educational Journal