Something different
Those of you who looked at the free sample of Gifts of a Dead Man and didn't like it will probably love No Bike (coming on June 29). Conversely, the two or three who loved Dead Man may well hate No Bike. The two novels are almost diametric opposites.
Pete and Millie, the stars of Dead Man, are decent, quiet, likeable – in Pete's case, almost self effacing. Turkle, the brilliant but self-destructive protagonist of No Bike lives on anger, adrenaline and confrontation.
Dead Man smacks of magical realism, with unearthly encounters, comic book heroes of the '50s and old radio detectives interacting with a paralyzed would-be shamus. Then there are the 8-year-old twins who blow things up. And the Grey Man who digs miniature worlds out of the ground by his leanto.
No Bike charges straight ahead, a smooth plotline filled with violence and retribution that does as much damage to Turkle as to anyone he plots to annihilate. The setting is again the Midwest, this time the home of the Golden Horde, the most feared biker gang to blast out of Nebraska. Oh, they are nasty, and the women who attach themselves to the Horde, like Heaven's Baby, live on the edge of existence.
No Bike is very different from what cane before. I don't like to write the same thing twice.
Pete and Millie, the stars of Dead Man, are decent, quiet, likeable – in Pete's case, almost self effacing. Turkle, the brilliant but self-destructive protagonist of No Bike lives on anger, adrenaline and confrontation.
Dead Man smacks of magical realism, with unearthly encounters, comic book heroes of the '50s and old radio detectives interacting with a paralyzed would-be shamus. Then there are the 8-year-old twins who blow things up. And the Grey Man who digs miniature worlds out of the ground by his leanto.
No Bike charges straight ahead, a smooth plotline filled with violence and retribution that does as much damage to Turkle as to anyone he plots to annihilate. The setting is again the Midwest, this time the home of the Golden Horde, the most feared biker gang to blast out of Nebraska. Oh, they are nasty, and the women who attach themselves to the Horde, like Heaven's Baby, live on the edge of existence.
No Bike is very different from what cane before. I don't like to write the same thing twice.
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I did indeed throw it out the window, but I think the rest has been somewhat glorified. Especially since I've heard other slightly different versions. But I destroyed an untold number of typewriters over the years, including karate-ing a 1915 L.C. Smith, breaking its cast iron frame. Oddly enough, I did not break my hand.
You were having a rough day on the third floor writing something. She was in the kitchen with Linda. They could hear you cursing upstairs, the rat-tat-tatting of the typewriter keys getting louder as you got angrier. Finally, they heard a crash in the back yard. Erin looked outside and there was your typewriter, smashed on the walkway. You had thrown it out the third floor window.
You continued cursing as you stomped down the steps, went outside, picked up the typewriter and marched back up to the third floor, where you then threw it out the window AGAIN.
I imagine this is the Derek Davis that wrote No Bike, and I look forward to reading it.