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The Complete Richard Allen, Vol. 3: Trouble for Skinhead, Skinhead Farewell, Top-gear Skin
Book by Allen, Richard
- GenresFiction
288 pages, Paperback
First published April 18, 1994
41 people want to read
About the author
Richard Allen
58 books36 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
'Richard Allen' is the name on the front cover of the million-selling Skinhead books. The name was thought of by the editors at the London publishing firm New English Library and given by them to Jim Moffatt, one of a number of hack writers who churned out their books to order.
Born of Irish extraction, Jim Moffatt went to Britain and learnt his trade writing up to six stories a week (thrillers, spies, Westerns) for pulp fiction magazines. He moved on to writing books, and by the mid-seventies reckoned he had produced 250 in the previous 20 years, at a rate of 10,000 words a day when deadlines were approaching. Meanwhile, the managing director of the ailing New English Library imprint was desperate to make inroads into a new audience of younger readers; his editorial board came up with the idea of commissioning a novel set in the emerging skinhead subculture. In six days Moffatt wrote Skinhead. The book was an immediate hit, and many of its youthful readers were convinced that the author was a real hooligan, not a 55-year-old Canadian who always wore a jacket and tie and whose lurid tales of sex and street violence were written from the same seafront cottage in Sidmouth in which he also penned a column for the local paper. Soon after Skinhead Farewell Moffatt's real-life relationship with NEL came to an end.
Moffatt died of cancer in the early nineties, just at the time when the skinhead style was coming back into fashion.
'Richard Allen' is the name on the front cover of the million-selling Skinhead books. The name was thought of by the editors at the London publishing firm New English Library and given by them to Jim Moffatt, one of a number of hack writers who churned out their books to order.
Born of Irish extraction, Jim Moffatt went to Britain and learnt his trade writing up to six stories a week (thrillers, spies, Westerns) for pulp fiction magazines. He moved on to writing books, and by the mid-seventies reckoned he had produced 250 in the previous 20 years, at a rate of 10,000 words a day when deadlines were approaching. Meanwhile, the managing director of the ailing New English Library imprint was desperate to make inroads into a new audience of younger readers; his editorial board came up with the idea of commissioning a novel set in the emerging skinhead subculture. In six days Moffatt wrote Skinhead. The book was an immediate hit, and many of its youthful readers were convinced that the author was a real hooligan, not a 55-year-old Canadian who always wore a jacket and tie and whose lurid tales of sex and street violence were written from the same seafront cottage in Sidmouth in which he also penned a column for the local paper. Soon after Skinhead Farewell Moffatt's real-life relationship with NEL came to an end.
Moffatt died of cancer in the early nineties, just at the time when the skinhead style was coming back into fashion.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 28, 2022
Trouble for skinhead - Joe off to jail where they have no birds, no football, no aggro just filth, overcrowding and corrupt screws. This was a high security jail for train robbers, child killers, all the scum of the earth. Joe wanting more than local fame killed a fuzz and rode the shit river to the cesspool that is Dartmoor Prison. Wanting to kick his Doc Martens into his enemies balls he will have to wait out the boredom of prison. Reminiscing on his past of a failed bank robbery, endless hooliganism on the terraces, balling a mother and daughter and a heinous home invasion of an immigrant family of sexual assault Joe is a complete piece of shit coward. An enemy of Joe will get thrown back in prison and the smack colder than yesterday's refrigeratored left overs will see a nose broken and pulped, ripped lips protruding teeth through flesh.
Skinhead farewell - Joe will be transferred from Dartmoor Prison with Charlie and some underworld croonies will intercept the van and now Joe is let loose to roam free again. A deal he will make allows him to get to of all bloody places Australia. Charlie is already there. Joe will not forget the beating he got and wants revenge against Charlie. Joe is in a foreign land but wants to get back to London. After finding out Charlie is in Coober Peddy he will kick into the groin like a snake striking, then a knee to the face, blood spurting to an unlucky miner. The desert environment is like a pockmarked moon, barren and desolate. Joe will hunt down Charlie beat his plummeting fists breaking bone and cartilage before Charlie escapes in his car. Pursuit, more fisting, Joe selling the opals they stole will live the high life for a few days before being arrested, sent back to Britain and his demise in a plane crash.
Top-Gear Skin - Roy sick of and getting bored of the bash or be bashed on the terrace, the aggro was becoming like a hangover from another era, a dying scene. Roy still liked the animal brutality of kicking his Docs into guts and balls, unadulterated rage. The skinhead girls were still kicking at groins, fingernails ripping into skin, copious amounts of blood dripping. Roy will start to steal cars and form a business deal with a piece of scum named Dean and Roy will feel the exciting power of stock car racing overcoming his hippy and Asian bashing.
Skinhead farewell - Joe will be transferred from Dartmoor Prison with Charlie and some underworld croonies will intercept the van and now Joe is let loose to roam free again. A deal he will make allows him to get to of all bloody places Australia. Charlie is already there. Joe will not forget the beating he got and wants revenge against Charlie. Joe is in a foreign land but wants to get back to London. After finding out Charlie is in Coober Peddy he will kick into the groin like a snake striking, then a knee to the face, blood spurting to an unlucky miner. The desert environment is like a pockmarked moon, barren and desolate. Joe will hunt down Charlie beat his plummeting fists breaking bone and cartilage before Charlie escapes in his car. Pursuit, more fisting, Joe selling the opals they stole will live the high life for a few days before being arrested, sent back to Britain and his demise in a plane crash.
Top-Gear Skin - Roy sick of and getting bored of the bash or be bashed on the terrace, the aggro was becoming like a hangover from another era, a dying scene. Roy still liked the animal brutality of kicking his Docs into guts and balls, unadulterated rage. The skinhead girls were still kicking at groins, fingernails ripping into skin, copious amounts of blood dripping. Roy will start to steal cars and form a business deal with a piece of scum named Dean and Roy will feel the exciting power of stock car racing overcoming his hippy and Asian bashing.
Displaying 1 of 1 review