Your host for Wednesday: David Bowker

There are hardboiled writers. There are noir writers. There are demented writers whose work you can’t quite classify. And then there’s David Bowker.

I discovered his work a few years back when a spiffy looking paperback called THE DEATH YOU DESERVE showed up at a nearby bookstore. I sped through it and found myself introduced to Rawhead, who may well be my favorite fictional psychopath. Sure, he kills lots of people but he also tends to have long, rambling discussions about Lovecraft, MR James and other horror greats. He’s loyal to a fault — even if you might not particularly want that kind of loyalty handy. The sequel, I LOVE MY SMITH & WESSON, brings Rawhead back for another dose of his skewed take on the world, revenge, and his best mate Billy Dye.

Before Rawhead, Bowker delved into male post-partum depression in FROM STOCKPORT WITH LOVE (1999), writing agony columns in THE SECRET SEXIST (1996) and tried out more traditional horror suspense with THE DEATH PRAYER (1995) and THE BUTCHER OF GLASTONBURY (1997). His current book is HOW TO BE BAD, which Russ Stein called the best antidote to Nick Hornby and other poster boys of “bad fiction” one could possibly find.

So now I shall turn Mr Bowker loose on the blogosphere, and see what happens. This should be much fun.