will self

i love cock and bull and my idea of fun.

excellent vocabulary on him....

i love his short stories. tough tough toys for tough tough boys is a great colection of his short fiction.

Check out Psychogeography - his weekly newspaper column

check out his post-its obsession

he's never as good as i want him to be.

PsychoGeography

Was great as team captain on Shooting Stars too...

Sorry - PsychoGeography link that works

How the Dead Live is one of my all time favourites.

My favourite is Great Apes

i'm pretty sure the band named themselves after this book

i don't really like will self but i've tried. i want to

I'm on the 3rd chapter of Book of Dave, god, this man is a genius.

I'm rereading tough tough toys for tough tough boys at the moment. I can't think of too many writers who I enjoy as much as Will Self.

Was great as team captain on Shooting Stars too...

I think that's when I decided he would be my next-life grumpy husband.

What a dream pairing Self and Steadman are. I must pick up PsychoGeography on the weekend.

i'm currently reading the Book of Dave. man it was a cunt to get through the first chapter until i realised there was a glossary at the back. he is a genius. great reading so far.

There was a great little program hidden away on ABC's Artscape slot last night called Obsessed with Walking in which Self takes a very long walk though LA, as some form of research for his new book. If you like this man's mind you really have to check this out. You can watch it online at the above link, or on ABC iView, or it's repeated on ABC2, Sunday at 6.30.

i love this guy. and what a perfect name.

Shooting Stars let him show off his acting talent

As Crocodile Dundee
As Young Mr Grace in Are You Being Served?
As well as being a team captain on the show

Nice new reissue designs! Niiiiiice. Reading 'Grey Area'' at the mo. Great Apes next. I'm keeping it more or less chronological.

I've always meant to get around to reading ''liver''. one of these days.

He's sick

What a sick irony that he should get something like this. I can't help but think it's linked to his previous drug use but there is no suggestion of that. Excellent piece of writing.

Terrible news, hope he keeps writing.

I just started reading Liver the other day. So far it doesn't seem to have the same flair as some of his other short stories but man, what a vocabulary.

Incredibly well written piece that. I loved his analogy of hospital making him a tourist in his own city.

But incredibly sad, sounds like a really fucked up disease to have.

did anyone else find the guardian piece ridiculously long? still, very enjoyable read. it would not seem out of place if it were included in a psychogeography III.

Damn, that sucks. Seflishly speaking though (excuse the pun), like with Hitchens' cancer, some fascinating writing has come out of the whole thing. On a side note, I finished 'Grey Area' recently - Inclusion is an amazing psychopharmacological fantasy!

what's a good starting point for w.s.?

I started at the start - The Quantity Theory of Insanity - and I reckon it's as good a starting point as any. I like to follow a writer's development anyway, so tend to go more or less chronologically. Reckon you'd like him woolfat, there's definitely a touch of early Cronenberg about some of his stuff...

I think I'd like it too-the little I've read had such an ease about it. I'll see if I can find the quantity theory, thanks ocelotl!

wooly: 'quantity theory of insanity', one of his first titles and a collection of short stories, is very j.g. ballardesque, very easy read. i love 'the book of dave' but probably not the best entry. 'liver' (a more recent short story volume) or 'how the dead live' would be my recommendations.

bah, didn't refresh before responding to that, sorry

I can't remember what I've read of him except Great Apes which was a bit laboured. Not a good sign.

Jesus Christ that news article is depressing. 5-10 more years and either I or many people I know will start getting these fucking awful diseases. Perspective yadda yadda.

strink

What goes around comes around, and this professional needlework was the appropriate karmic comeback for all that amateur embroidery.

I liked that bit.

I'm a fan and hadn't read that article, thanks for sharing, incredibly read, albeit sad news.

Will Self to become a professor of contemporary thought Maverick writer will be teaching students at Brunel University's school of the arts and its school of the social sciences

He has a new book out called 'Umbrella'. I was looking at it in Readings the other day but I have a stack of books to get through so didn't buy it.

Anyone read(ing) it?

I've got Umbrella on order from the library.

I really enjoy Will Self but I do find his fiction quite hard work. I discovered him via JG Ballard and I think his writings/thoughts on Ballard are some of his best work.

Personally I think Will's most consistent stuff is his journalism.

Always enjoyable, and Umbrella sounds as good as ever. ''Umbrella sets out to understand the nature of the modern world by going back to the source – the industrial madness of World War One. Set across an entire century, Umbrella follows the complex story of Audrey Death, a feminist who falls victim to the encephalitis lethargica epidemic that rages across Europe, and Dr Zack Busner, who spends a summer waking the post-encephalitic patients under his care using a new and powerful drug.''

Even scored himself a Booker nomination with this one.

Personally I think Will's most consistent stuff is his journalism.

And here is some.

I'm keen to read it, I'm just not ready to pay forty five bucks for the privilege.

It's out in paperback too. $28 local price, or less.

Oops, missed my link: or less.

Here's the first few pages.

Looks like it'd be a difficult read. Even more so for people (myself included) who don't know a great deal about the history of London.

And yes, 28 bucks for a paperback is a bit much.

Thanks for the link ocelotl. I just bought it.

Booko rules! (Disclaimer: Support your local bookshop where possible)
It does look like a challenging read. But I trust it'll be worth it.

I don't feel too bad since I bought a copy from my old local bookshop in Canberra. The coop bookshop at the uni. I loved that place. I spent so many hours in it looking at books.

Will Self examines the legacy of Prozac, the so-called 'wonder drug'. As he sets off on a personal exploration of the conflicting and sensational stories that surround it, he talks to those who make the drug, those who take it and those who prescribe it. Does it work? And what effect has the promise of a ''happiness pill'' had on society?