- Iain Ryan's last novel, The Spiral (2020), was magnificent, and I raved about it here. His earlier one, The Student (2017) was also a very satisfying read. 'An exciting new voice in Australian crime fiction' had emerged according to Adrian McKinty. The city of Brisbane and its dingy underworld was Ryan's natural terrain.
- This recently published one is, by comparison, a wholly different beast. It's not a novel but two short stories in a self-published little book. It also features a range of amateurish black and white photos of key items and places referred to in the stories. They add to the atmosphere of intrigue and menace. The stories are set in Nevada, Dallas and Los Angeles, about as far away from Brisbane as you can possibly get.
- The first story, Rusty, is about an orange guitar Rusty has bought on Ebay, and a clairvoyant who he has contacted to find a clue to its provenance. Layabouts, students, dope addicts - it's Ryan's world and he brings it to life.
- The second and far more traditional crime related story, The Drifter, is more interesting and atmospheric, conveying a fair bit of menace.
- Ryan's note in the Title Page provides the reader with a bit of context:
Although some of the broader historical events described in this book are drawn from the documented history of Sonic Youth, the events and characters in this book (including, for the avoidance of doubt, named people) are completely fictional and imaginary...
- Ryan's ability to render the lives and relationships of people living and struggling at the margins, particularly in their conversations, is sublime. He strikes exactly the right note. In these two short pieces not a word is out of place or unnecessary. The prose is spare but powerful.
(Some advice to self publishers: You still need a proofreader. Ryan refers to one of his main characters by the wrong name (Eva instead of Ava), and there are a few missing words in the text).
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