Black Neon

by Tony O'Neill (contributor)

Lupita and Genesis have just wasted a drug dealer and hit the open road with a suitcase full of dirty money and crystal meth. Little do they know that their road trip will set them on a collision course with a side of American life even darker and weirder than their own.

Genres: Fiction

280 pages, Paperback

First published November 13, 2014

About the author

Before he wrote the novel DIGGING THE VEIN Tony O'Neill was a professional musician, playing with bands and artists as diverse as Kenickie, Marc Almond, P.J. Proby and The Brian Jonestown Massacre. His autobiographical debut novel, published in 2006, was a thinly veiled account of his years as a musician and heroin addict, and became a cult hit when it was published in the US and Canada in by Contemporary Press. Praised by the likes of beat legend John Giorno and "Bruno Dante"-author Dan Fante, DIGGING THE VEIN was seized upon by the British press as being a key work in what they dubbed "The Off-Beat Generation." This loose collection of writers and poets -whose collective youth, talent and disregard for the literary establishment was quickly earning them praise and scorn in equal measure - published frequently in cult lit journals like 3am magazine, and cited the DIY ethic of punk as well as cult literary figures like Alexander Trocchi and James Fogle as being their inspirations. The phrase "Here's a laptop, here's a spellcheck, now go write a book!" was jokingly adopted as their slogan. Like much of what the off-beats did, it seemed a move calculated to annoy the literary establishment.

The Guardian article about the Off-Beats "Surfing the New Literary Wave" caused a controversy in 2006 when it claimed O'Neill as a figurehead for the burgeoning scene. It also characterized O'Neill as someone who had "taken the phrase rock'n'roll poet to its furthest edge," while associating him with a style of writing dubbed "Brutalism." For his own part O'Neill claimed not to care about literary movements and had no desire to be associated with other writers. In an interview with 3am Magazine he said that he was drawn to writing "because it's a solitary activity." He went on to decry "those Brooklyn writers who hang out together all the time drinking soy lattes and arguing about what Miranda July's best book is."

"Surfing the New Literary Wave" was the first place that many readers heard about O'Neill and fellow authors like Tom McCarthy, Ben Myers, Adelle Stripe, Heidi James, Paul Ewen, Laura Hird, Lee Rourke and Noah Cicero. Most of those mentioned in the piece were just starting out in their careers, but would soon go on to write some of the most interesting non-mainstream books of the last 10 years.

SEIZURE WET DREAMS, a collection of short stories and poems was released by Social Disease in 2006. It was followed by a volume of poetry, SONGS FROM THE SHOOTING GALLERY [Burning Shore Press, 2007], a collection that avant-garde legend Dennis Cooper described as "precise and beautiful yet [...] imperiled by the damage in its own world." These three small-press books won O'Neill a rabid fan base, seduced by his gritty tales of junkies, hookers and perilous lives lived on the margins of society. When reviewing these early books, many critics drew comparisons between O'Neill's writing and the work of Dan Fante, Jerry Stahl, Charles Bukowski and Irvine Welsh.

He made the jump to mainstream publishing in 2008 when DOWN AND OUT ON MURDER MILE, his second novel, was released by Harper Perennial. Winning praise from the likes of Jerry Stahl, Sebastian Horsley and James Frey DOWN AND OUT was seen by critics as a big leap forward in terms of style and scope. O'Neill once claimed it was - along with SHOOTING GALLERY - the most personal of his books.

His career in Europe took off around this time with the release of the French-language collection NOTRE DAME DU VIDE (13e Note Press). Since then O'Neill has retained a strong following in France and Germany, where each of his books have been translated to great acclaim. However it was with the release of SICK CITY in 2010 [Harper Perennial] that Tony O'Neill finally seemed in danger of earning mainstream acceptance in the US. This pitch-dark thriller managed to juggle it's page turner ambitions with a satirical heart that took aim squarely at the recovery industry and Hollywood's worship

Reviews

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a set of three loosely interconnected stories about three sets of people, each gathering up speed as they circle around a whirlpool of drugs and despair and desperation.

The most fully fleshed out of these three groups is Genesis, a drug addicted prostitute who dreamed of someday getting out of Reno and Lupita, a one-armed chick with a blazing gun in each hand who somehow shows up on the spot to rescue Genesis. Their back stories are intense and are told well. Together, they follow Dillon's advice in Drugstore Cowboy that the drugs were all there in the pharmacies for the taking and cut a path of blood and gore across the west. Throw in a little bit of Haitian superstition and you've got two avenging angels out to take whatever they can get and who fall in love with each other on the way.

Another pair lives in a seedy Hollywood hotel, Jeffrey goes to AA meetings and his sidekick, tall thin transsexual Rachel, who turns tricks to keep them full of dope.

The final grouping is a French director and his Hollywood connections. Jacque is a fat soul full of self -importance and who is determined to capture on film the gritty underbelly of Hollywood even if he has to sample every drug available and involve every street kid he can find.

Each of these people is on the road to destruction whether rich or poor. There are no limits, no rules, and no end to how far their depravity will stretch.

It is an absorbing gritty look at this world. And O'Neill pulls it off well. The three stories however are not all even. Overall, quite a read. Edgy in a Bukowski way.

[Ryan Leone · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been on a massive Tony O'Neill bender for the last few months. He is easily one of my favorite writers. What can I say about Tony that I haven't already?

The trajectory of his career has been in an impressive upward motion since his debut novel, Digging the Vein. He seems to become more conditioned and develop a new set of skills for each book that he puts out. I loved his roman a clef junkie novels ( Digging, Down and Out) because he didn't sensationalize a thing about the life. There was this innocent passivity that any real heroin addict can acknowledge as being authentic. He earned sympathy without demanding it. There are so many "survival" memoirs out there that are frankly nauseating. They have the obligatory "reasons for using" or "12 step revelations". Tony liked getting loaded and then got trapped in it. That's addiction. There were never any excuses and that's why you feel bad for him.

Sick City had that same kind of urgent veracity. He sketched characters that obviously originated from somewhere in his real life and placed them in one of the most original plots I've ever read. It's a masterpiece and something that should be eagerly read by anyone who appreciates neo-noir, transgressive, or drug-lit.

Black Neon is the sequel to Sick City and it may be Tony's best work yet. It can be read to compliment Sick City or as a stand-alone. I don't want to go too much into the plot but it involved all sorts of outlandish characters and was a feverish page turner. It has the same style of Sick City, where parallel stories come together in a magnificent peak. Irvine Welsh endorsed this one and rightfully so.

Mark my words: Tony O'Neill will be a household name within the next few years.

[Meredith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even though the cover photo of this book (not the same as pictured on GR) was gross, vile and a complete turn off, for some reason I picked it up anyway. And this is exactly what happened as I thumbed through it - simultaneously repulsed yet wanted it bad.

The author can spin a sentence like no other and his prose is lush and world observations so acute. I love, love, loved this book. The characters are interesting and the story is compelling. It's dark and at times made my skin crawl but I certainly couldn't look away. I was very sad when it was over.

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Black Neon takes on a larger scope, but at its heart it is the story of Genesis and Lupita. Man do those girls put out one hell of a story on these pages.

Genesis is a prostitute who knows a thing or two about violence when needed. The opening scene involves her being gang raped by some college guys at a birthday party. That chapter ends with her retaliation inflicted on her way out the door.

Lupita is a one-armed, murdering psychopath who has the most gut-wrenching, horrific backstory of anything I’ve ever read. In fact, her story hit me so hard I want to warn you in this recommendation that it’s quite disturbing. She is one-armed for a reason, after all.

Lupita meets Genesis during an act of murder, and the two hook up as lovers. Once together they blaze a trail of drug usage and armed robbery that leaves corpses and even some of their own body parts in their wake, all while trying to free themselves from a black magic curse. The story of Lupita and Genesis is so good the pages crackle with electricity. There’s just not enough stuff like this out there. Think Thelma & Louise meets Hunter S. Thompson in Vegas meets Natural Born Killers and you get a sense for what their journey could look like.

The ugly and horrific scenes are punctuated by unexpected humor and beauty delivered in the unlikeliest of lines—a couple of examples from Lupita are, “This is about my religious freedoms!” and another “You’re not just beautiful, Genesis. You got your head screwed on, girl.” Out of context, these lines mean nothing, but (trust me) when you hit them in the story they will just mess you up.

There is a small drawback to this novel, however. It’s also about a lot of other things besides the adventures of Genesis and Lupita. A film company has taken on a rogue project about the true drug culture of LA; and alternating chapters are about people in the film industry struggling with addiction, people at the bottom rung of society desperate to cop, and others reveling in a lifestyle of prostitution, crack cocaine, and every other substance imaginable. These characters and scenes are interesting, well-written, and horrific in their own way, but carry nothing of the urgency of Genesis and Lupita. The epilogue also, while leaving on you on a happy note, seemed almost insincere considering how bleak the entire novel up to that point was.

This is the kind of book that makes you want to run down to the clinic and get tested in case you picked something up just by reading it. While much of Black Neon is hard to look at, I highly recommend it for those that like the strong stuff.

[Liam · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5*

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

"With that, Jeffrey was gone. Randall watched him for a while ambling up the road, another broken ghost on a sidewalk full of such spectres. He seemed at one with his dilapidated surroundings, fading in to a panorama of check cash joints, broken neon signs, shady doorways advertising palm readers & fortunetellers, idling bums, street drinkers, whores & other assorted lunatics. Jeffrey was not alone anymore."

[Ruth Brumby · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't finish this book, so really it is unfair to write a review. I felt as if I had read it before; it seemed very dated. It didn't seem to be going anywhere and I couldn't understand the point of it. I skimmed through to see if anything altered, but it looked like just more of the same.

[Jacob Cook · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Any movie, even the worst, is better than real life." - Sebastian Horsley

"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." - Dr. Hunter S. Thompson

The epigraphs are best kept in mind while reading 'Black Neon', a satire and a crime caper whose content and style is clearly influenced by 'Pulp Fiction', 'Thelma & Louise', any one of Thompson's books, and possibly even Joan Didion. This novel is cinematic in a way that I've never before read in any other novel; O'Neil's selection of characters feel so familiar because they're often living out the clichés of archetypes we've seen numerous times in (other) cult movies. So, I found the first chapter of this novel/movie - following the prostitute Genesis as she nearly becomes the victim of a serial killer, is raped by a trio of frat guys, and is saved from death at the hand of her drug-dealer by Lupita, the femme fatale, whom he had also wronged - kind of frustrating. There's nothing in O'Neil's prose to clue the reader in to what it is that he's doing, so the wise-cracking dialogue at the crucial meeting of Genesis and Lupita seems corny to me, reminiscent of a B-movie. This is bad, and it's made worse when you realise that these two characters aren't actually ironic subjects. Irony is saved for narcissistic, power-hungry filmmakers who are willing to do anything to make money and exploit their "actors" in order to arrive at some profound understanding. Jacques Seltzer, one such character, really picks the novel up with the hilarious, sometimes ridiculous situations he gets himself in. These moments, fleeting as they are, feel necessary in order to humanise O'Neil's cast of derelicts, which are the real concern of this novel. Randal, a reformed drug addict struggling with alcohol dependency; Jeffrey, a heroin addict struggling to stay afloat, and his girlfriend Rachel, a superstitious transvestite; Gibby, Jacques' desperately neurotic agent; and, despite my initial misgivings, Lupita, dabbler in black magic, who had a terrible childhood that still haunts her. I came to love all of them over the course of the novel - though it took longer for some to make an impression on me. Their struggles are oddly realistic, no matter how chaotic the world aroud them is, or how madly they are obliged to chase around the cartoonish Jacques Seltzer.

Sometimes 'Black Neon' reads like nothing more than an exercise in vulgarity, what with all the profanity, sex, habitual drug taking, and death. It loses its shock-value quickly and becomes tiresome. But then O'Neil balances it out, occassionally, with great emotional insight, and vivid description.

'Black Neon' is hampered by its movie-style ambitions, but it's a fun ride if you can get past its flaws. I didn't find it hard with the distinctive colloquial dialogue, meticulously structured narrative, and the unusual, but interesting, examination of drug addiction - which is more than 'Pulp Fiction' cared to do.

[Blair · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy fucking shit. (in the best way possible)

This book is enigmatic to a normal human. To an ADHD neuro with a spot of the ‘tism, it one of the few books that has grasped and held my attention till the fruitful end. This was my first read of Mr.O’Neill and I now plan on devouring every ounce of him as quickly as possible. Read the fucking book. Cheers.

[Sue Corbett · Rating 4 out of 5]

A US version of Trainspotting, really but a different plot, amazingly enjoyable, funny but very sad in places, good characterisation.

[Pete · Rating 4 out of 5]

If Tarantino did a cross between Trainspotting and Terry Southern's Blue Movie, it might come close to being as good as this drug-fuelled, lowlife riddled, frenzied romp. Loved it.

[Paul Hackley · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too many characters, too much telling, not enough happening, missing stakes. Made it maybe 100 p.

[Leanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the opening line of this book I was in knee deep and devoured it with complete abandon. Every mouthful was rich and satisfying. That I even came across this book, I have Irvine Welsh to thank for, and I include his recommendation here for you too:

IRVINE WELSH. 'BLACK NEON is a pitch black slice of neo-noir, where black magic, art house cinema, drug fuelled madness and apocolyptic violence collide with dizzying effect. I fell in love with every page.

[Julia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although this book is quite "readable" I found myself losing interest in in it very quickly. The characters lack depth and the book is littered with sex and drug references, which I don't mind usually - but it felt like the author was trying to squeeze in as many as he possibly could just for the sake of it. It does quite a good job of exposing the rotten side of life but with no redeeming features to make you care about any of the players.

[sherru hogan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting book. Written outside of normal.

Loved this book a real page Turner and characters true to the street life they survive on. Fascinating. Not for the everyday kind of person. More for those who have gone into the grey area of life. Thank you for this great read.

[edofrance · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fondamentalmente è un libro tossico

[Rainie Semmens · Rating 5 out of 5]

amazing, blunt & in your face yet refreshing at the same time