Rawhead

If you've read David Bowker, you're not furrowing your brows right now. And, if you haven't already stumbled across it, you'll be pleased to see Bowker's theories on where in his head Rawhead came from.

"Rawhead, the murderous antihero of The Death You Deserve and I Love My Smith and Wesson, was invented in my sleep.In the early nineties, I had a vivid recurring dream in which the devil was my best friend. In this dream, the Lord of Misrule’s attitude towards me was protective and indulgent, almost fatherly. I puzzled over a way to turn this notion into a book but couldn’t make it work. On paper, my startling dream seemed crass -the kind of story that might once have been filmed with Dudley Moore in a leading role."



He goes on to explain the deep tears in his psyche that explain Billy Dye.
"Billy Dye, the writer that Rawhead protects, is partly based on me. Like Billy, I have occasionally had a tendency to shoot off my mouth and behave like a complete prick. Also like Billy, I was once a journalist who openly defied the editors who gave me work and sneered at their magazines. Then I wondered why they stopped offering me work. I was literally my own worst enemy.

My career as an author might have started four years earlier except for an unfortunate incident in the office of a children’s editor. This woman wanted to publish a book I’d written. It didn’t matter that she was middle class and silly, as English children’s editors tend to be. All I had to do was listen politely to her very minor suggestions for changes and the deal was done. Instead, I tried to steal a book from her office and she caught me in the act. This Editor was so outraged that she decided, there and then, that anyone who stole things wasn’t fit to write for children. One minute I was about to sign a book deal, the next minute I was out on the street."


Bowker's work is fast, dark, snappy, brilliant, sick and modern. I'll let Amazon do the 'if you like blah you'll love blah' thingy. But pick him up and dedicate some free time. I won't be loaning mine out and once you've read him, you won't be either.
The Butcher of Glastonbury
The Death Prayer: The York Mysteries
The Secret Sexist
The Death Prayer
Rawhead
The Death You Deserve: A Novel
I Love My Smith & Wesson : A Novel
Rawhead in Love
How to Be Bad : A Novel June/05