The CROCODILE PRINCESS
Admin . Feb 23 . 1 min read
Set in Phnom Penh in 1962, amongst the diplomatic community (British, American and Russian) with its tensions, friendships, intrigues and affairs and against the background of the Cold War and Cuban missile, The Crocodile Princess takes historical figures, from Prince Sihanouk to Peter Cook, from Dudley Moore to Kenneth Allsop, and Lenny Bruce, constructing an alternative history in a slightly parallel world in which Cook has suffered a crisis which has led to his dropping out of comedy and into diplomacy (his father was a diplomat and his public school specialized in preparing its pupils to work for the Foreign Office).
Fast-paced, witty, full of intrigue, misdirection and set in the heat of Phnom Penh in an extraordinary moment of history, The Crocodile Princess is a gripping read.
NOT TONIGHT NEIL
Admin . Feb 23 . 1 min read
Not Tonight Neil is an innovative mix of psycho-thriller and period satire, set in 1969 on a Manchester council estate. Forty-something satirical cartoonist Dennis Pugh publishes Noises Through the Wall , the story of his teenage years, going through puberty only a thin wall away from his sexually exuberant neighbours. Now those formative years, and noises through the wall, emerge again, this time in the form of murder.
The novel cleverly combines social realism and dark comedy: pitching together Dennis’s adolescent travails and impossible longings with the puzzle of who commits the central murder. Not Tonight Neil, deftly handles not only coming of age, but the struggles of people living in close proximity to carve out their own identities.
Call CENTRE LOVE SONG
Admin . Feb 23 . 1 min read
SHORT-LISTED FOR THE FELIX DENNIS BEST FIRST COLLECTION PRIZE (FORWARD PRIZES FOR POETRY 2006).
The speakers of the poems include a call centre worker who falls
in love with a client; an aristocratic Englishman cast by Hollywood as a villain; a retired Civil War general; a Victorian rambler unsettled by an Anglesey copper mine; Thomas the Tank Engine with an identity crisis; a stalker; a housewife scanning the personal columns; a sex guru; and Superman and Lois Lane. One poem takes the form of voices on an answerphone, another of
a text message.
The SLASHER AND THE VAMPIRE
Admin . Feb 23 . 1 min read
Formally diverse, eminently accessible and packed with wit. There is deep commentary going on in these poems, on how we make and break connections, on the possibilities and limits of language and perception. Brilliant, often funny, frequently poignant and always timely, The Slasher and the Vampire as Role Models, is a collection that shows Gregson at the height of his linguistic dexterity as a poet with something real to say.
About
An English poet and novelist, Gregson was born in 1953 in Manchester, England. He pursued his education at Oxford University and later attained a PhD from the University of Hull.
IAN GREGSON
Author of The Crocodile Princess and Not Tonight Neil, Gregson is an accomplished writer and a master of his craft. His debut poetry collection Call Centre Love Song was shortlisted for a Forward Prize in 2006. In 2015, he was put forward for the position of Professor of Poetry at Oxford University.
testimonials
Ian Gregson is an accomplished novelist and poet. A craftsmen of language, Gregson draws the reader in with his dripping storytelling and his honest, witty and relatable prose
"Here’s an independent voice – fearless I'd say, but vulnerable. Gregson’s a connoisseur of neuroses – including his own – and a wily chronicler of what we don’t mean to say when we strive to communicate. (Review of "Call Centre Love Song")"
"Though he adopts many identities, [Gregson’s] voice is always his own: intellectually challenging but sensuous, immediate and approachable."
"Here’s an independent voice – fearless I'd say, but vulnerable. Gregson’s a connoisseur of neuroses – including his own – and a wily chronicler of what we don’t mean to say when we strive to communicate. (Review of "Call Centre Love Song")"