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A First Book of Frags, by Dave Lordan (or, Dave Lordan is mad)

In Ireland telling the truth is a symptom of madness. Dave Lordan is mad. Vision is a seeing into the given and at the same time a seeing beyond the given into its as yet unrealised potentials. In sixteen wicked and often wildly funny fictions he takes the absurdities of life in contemporary Ireland to their logical, apocalyptic extremes. This haterage has a grotesque, mythical quality. It's a relentless and ultra-committed attempt to overturn every oppressive stone and expose to unforgiving light the grotesqueness festering underneath. And yes, hateful rage is put forward as an appropriate literary response. Every paragraph I write seems to be written by a totally different person, or by a different part of me at least. His ventriloquist forms and vulgar mouth-grenades challenge arguments for the validity of polite or officially-sanctioned language. The most resonant words in any tongue are the words for the most powerful scents of existence: Fuck, Shit and Kill.
A First Book of Frags, by Dave Lordan, is out now from Wurm Press.

It will be launched on Saturday 20 April at McGrattan's Cafe-Bar, 76 Fitzwilliam Lane, Baggot St, Dublin 2, with readings and performances from Lordan as well as guest poets and musicians. Start time is 8pm.

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