Free Shots!

Three one-shots that follow on from the conclusion of Heroes of Hollywood Boulevard.  Contains spoilers (obvs) but you can always buy the book, read it, then come back for the free one-shots.

THE PROSPECT OF A LIFE ON THE RUN FORCES ONE CHARACTER
TO CONSIDER THE LIFE DECISIONS THEY HAVE MADE [READ MORE]

GWEN STRUGGLES TO UNDERSTAND HOW THINGS WENT SO WRONG AS THE HEROES GO TO SACRAMENTO [READ MORE]

STU FINDS AN ALLY IN THE D.A. THAT COULD SALVAGE A FUTURE FOR HIS CHILDREN [READ MORE]

Heroes of Hollywood Boulevard: The Game - Heroes Makin' Zeroes

Here's your chance to work Hollywood Boulevard.  Step into the shoes of Stu Hogan, earn $70 for beer before 5 brawls summon the poe-poe to your doorstep.

Sorteo de México!

If you hot-foot it over to Instafreebie now you'll be able to avail on many incredible books for absolutely nothing; one of the free books on the site is White Mexicans (& Other Short Stories That All Definitely Happened*).  Click [here] to grab yourself a free copy.  Among other things, White Mexicans contains the short story version of Heroes of Hollywood Boulevard which was expanded on to create a novel.  Why not check out the website [here].

Acerca del Libro

Too poor to escape Los Angeles, too weak to survive in it; Doug Morgan takes a job writing an Exploitation movie to pay the bills.  Struggling with the pay-off between art and commerce he finds himself on the path to redemption, if he can scrape himself off rock bottom.

Half novella, half short story compilation, White Mexicans is an American tale told in the Irish yarn tradition.  Populated with Louden’s usual spit and spite dialogue, off-colour humour and poetic lamentation of a world gone wrong; his third outing is a mix of fable and low-life fiction.

* The statement that all stories “definitely happened” is one used for entertainment purposes and should not be considered factual or legally binding.  All too often Mr. Louden is full of shit.

Free Book Weekend

To celebrate the launch of Heroes of Hollywood Boulevard we’re having a bumper weekend giveaway.  As Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice lands on the silver screen this Friday March, 25 Venice Books is giving away Kindle copies of the superheist novel for the whole weekend.  The offers don’t end there though, oh no.  Just as Batman and Superman have Wonder Woman, Aquaman and The Flash to keep them company, Heroes of Hollywood Boulevard will be accompanied by Louden’s bibliography.  Don’t miss this opportunity to pick up 4 books and pay 0.

Lost Angeles: A Novel

RRP $2.99 – Friday March, 25 – Sunday March, 27 FREE!
Full time whiskey enthusiast Doug Morgan is on a downward spiral.  Over the past two years the Irish man has played witness to the slow and steady decay of his life and he’s finally called time.  Haunted by an unacknowledged pain Doug swaps the white collar nine to five of Belfast for one last charge into oblivion in the City of Angels.  A scotch-soaked stranger in a strange land Doug befriends a series of like minded and self destructive vagabonds who, like him, are aiming for chaos.  

In a city that sees thousands of people per year come to be discovered why has one man come to get lost?

Bone Idol [bohn ahyd-l]

RRP $2.99 – Saturday March, 26 & Sunday March, 27 FREE!
The sophomore follow-up to Lost Angeles is the semi-biographical tale of author David Louden's alter-ego Doug Morgan as he struggles to connect with his father Jack, his mother Ruth and the working class ideology of "a real job".

From his early adventure filled days in Poleglass through to the alcohol induced haze of his early twenties Doug's life (much like the city) is one at conflict with itself. Bone Idol [bohn ahyd-l] is filled with humour, sex, guilt and the shameful dream of a boy wanting to create more than a family of haunted heirs.  

White Mexicans: & Other Short Stories That All Definitely Happened*

RRP $2.99 – Friday March, 25 – Sunday March, 27 FREE

Too poor to escape Los Angeles, too weak to survive in it; Doug Morgan takes a job writing an Exploitation movie to pay the bills.  Struggling with the pay-off between art and commerce he finds himself on the path to redemption, if he can scrape himself off rock bottom.

Half novella, half short story compilation, White Mexicans is an American tale told in the Irish yarn tradition.  Populated with Louden’s usual spit and spite dialogue, off-colour humour and poetic lamentation of a world gone wrong; his third outing is a mix of fable and low-life fiction.

Heroes of Hollywood Boulevard [New Release]

RRP $2.99 – Friday March, 25 – Sunday March, 27 FREE
Stu Hogan is idolized by every child walking Hollywood Boulevard apart from his own.  Working the star-studded street as a Batman impersonator alongside good pal Brian (Superman) and steroid shooting Ricky (The Incredible Hulk), Stu’s love of alcohol, gambling and strippers have left him behind with his alimony, down on his luck and looking for a quick fix for both.

Seeing an opportunity to change his circumstances, Stu enlists his fellow superheroes for a daring heist that has the impersonators fall short of their counterparts’ lofty standards causing friendships to fracture and divisions to become deadly.

* The statement that all stories “definitely happened” is one used for entertainment purposes and should not be considered factual or legally binding.  All too often Mr. Louden is full of shit.

  

Free a Hero!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Heroes of Hollywood Boulevard

by David Louden

Giveaway ends March 20, 2016.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

What's For Launch?

Meet Your Heroes!

I’ve just launched a temporary website to accompany the book.  It’s my hope that I’ll be able to add additional content, fill in some backstory with short posts, and maybe even share the court records of the real “Hollywood Characters”.  If you’re from Belfast you’ll be able to avail of a copy of Heroes of Hollywood Boulevard from the ever excellent Comic Book Guys, in Spires Mall.  The first ten customers will receive a free, limited edition chapbook called Hated.  Citizens outside of Fast City can grab one on Amazon, or through Barnes & Noble, Borders, and various other reputable bookstores (maybe even some disreputable ones).

HEROES OF HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD WEBSITE 

Feel free to check out the site by clicking on the link above.  The book comes with a foreword from one-half of the Comic Book Guys, Austin Flanagan and a letter called “Be the Bat” from Kevin Porter (Batman: City of Scars).  Books sell because of their reviews.  If you’d like an advanced copy of Heroes of Hollywood Boulevard in exchange for an Amazon.com/co.uk and GoodReads review please hit me up, here.

A Home for The Heroes

[VISIT THE SITE]

With Heroes of Hollywood Boulevard a mere two months and change away from release I've just launched a temporary website.  Check it out for synopsis, additional content and information not to mention some sweet links to my back cat.

Bowie

I woke this morning humming

Let’s Dance, and I didn’t know why

Instagram had tattooed your face

Across a million different lives.

They were all the lives you touched

In a way that went beyond lyrics,

Beyond rhythm, key, even sound

Through a million different experiences

Could it be that the world woke

This morning humming Let’s Dance?

As your spirit said its goodbye

To a million different souls?

Double Down

Downward Facing Doug chronicles the adventures through childhood and the streets of L.A. & Belfast of Douglas Morgan.  Comprising of Lost Angeles, Bone Idol [bohn ahyd-l] and three short stories from the recently released White Mexicans, Downward Facing Doug demonstrates author, David Louden’s, Bukowskian style prose, spit and spite dialogue and poetic lamentation of a world gone wrong.

For a limited time only, Downward Facing Doug will be on offer for 99c/99p (Tax may vary) making it a bonafide steal.  You can pick up your Kindle copies from Amazon.com [here] and Amazon.co.uk [here].

Lost Angeles

Venice Books. Dec 1, 2012

Full time whiskey enthusiast Doug Morgan is on a downward spiral. Over the past two years the Irish man has played witness to the slow and steady decay of his life and he’s finally called time. Haunted by an unacknowledged pain Doug swaps the white collar nine to five of Belfast for one last charge into oblivion in the City of Angels. A scotch-soaked stranger in a strange land Doug befriends a series of like minded and self destructive vagabonds who, like him, are aiming for chaos. In a city that sees thousands of people per year come to be discovered why has one man come to get lost? 

Bone Idol [bohn ahyd-l]

Venice Books. Nov 28, 2013

The sophomore follow-up to Lost Angeles is the semi-biographical tale of author David Louden's alter-ego Doug Morgan as he struggles to connect with his father Jack, his mother Ruth and the working class ideology of "a real job". 

From his early adventure filled days in Poleglass through to the alcohol induced haze of his early twenties Doug's life (much like the city) is one at conflict with itself. Bone Idol [bohn ahyd-l] is filled with humour, sex, guilt and the shameful dream of a boy wanting to create more than a family of haunted heirs. 

White Mexicans

Venice Books. Jul 13, 2015

Too poor to escape Los Angeles, too weak to survive in it; Doug Morgan takes a job writing an Exploitation movie to pay the bills. Struggling with the pay-off between art and commerce he finds himself on the path to redemption, if he can scrape himself off rock bottom. 

Half novella, half short story compilation, White Mexicans is an American tale told in the Irish yarn tradition. Populated with Louden’s usual spit & spite dialogue, off-colour humour and poetic lamentation of a world gone wrong; his third outing is a mix of fable and low-life fiction. 

Poetry Publication

December sees the bi-annual publication from New Coin Poetry, a South African poetry journal for the advancement of English in literature.  I’m fortunate enough to be able to say that two of my pieces have been published alongside the work of some truly incredible writers.  You can obtain a copy [here].

Three Books for the Price of Half of One

BOOK DEALS SATURDAY 5th & SUNDAY 6th DECEMBER

SYNOPSIS: Full time whiskey enthusiast Doug Morgan is on a downward spiral. Over the past two years the Irish man has played witness to the slow and steady decay of his life and he’s finally called time. Haunted by an unacknowledged pain Doug swaps the white collar nine to five of Belfast for one last charge into oblivion in the City of Angels.
A scotch-soaked stranger in a strange land Doug befriends a series of like minded and self destructive vagabonds who, like him, are aiming for chaos. In a city that sees thousands of people per year come to be discovered why has one man come to get lost?  USA [here] UK [here]

SYNOPSIS: The sophomore follow-up to LOST ANGELES is the semi-biographical tale of author David Louden's alter-ego Doug Morgan as he struggles to connect with his father Jack, his mother Ruth and the working class ideology of "a real job". 

From his early adventure filled days in Poleglass through to the alcohol induced haze of his early twenties Doug's life (much like the city) is one at conflict with itself. BONE IDOL is filled with humour, sex, guilt and the shameful dream of a boy wanting to create more than a family of haunted heirs. USA [here] UK [here]

Too poor to escape Los Angeles, too weak to survive in it; Doug Morgan takes a job writing an Exploitation movie to pay the bills. Struggling with the pay-off between art and commerce he finds himself on the path to redemption, if he can scrape himself off rock bottom. 

Half novella, half short story compilation, White Mexicans & Other Short Stories That All Definitely Happened* is an American tale told in the Irish yarn tradition. Populated with Louden’s usual spit & spite dialogue, off-colour humour and poetic lamentation of a world gone wrong; his third outing is a mix of fable and low-life fiction.  USA [here] UK [here]

*The statement that all stories “definitely happened” is one used for entertainment purposes and should not be considered factual or legally binding. All too often Mr. Louden is full of shit.

Bohning Up!

CLAIM YOUR FREE BOOK

With White Mexicans garnering five star praise from readers, reviews and publications all over God's lil green one I'm in something of a generous mood.  Thanks to the power of Instafreebie I'm giving away 100! copies of my 2013 roman á clef novel, Bone Idol [bohn ahyd-l].

What's it all about?  Synopsis below...

The sophomore follow-up to Lost Angeles is the semi-biographical tale of author David Louden's alter-ego Doug Morgan as he struggles to connect with his father Jack, his mother Ruth and the working class ideology of "a real job".

From his early adventure filled days in Poleglass through to the alcohol induced haze of his early twenties Doug's life (much like the city) is one at conflict with itself. Bone Idol [bohn ahyd-l] is filled with humour, sex, guilt and the shameful dream of a boy wanting to create more than a family of haunted heirs.

Help A Hero!

Two weeks to go!  Heroes of Hollywood Boulevard is currently on Kindle Scout.  All who nominate it get a free digital copy should it get picked up.

NOMINATE OUR HEROES

SYNOPSIS

Stu Hogan is idolized by every child walking Hollywood Boulevard except his own.  Working the star-studded street as a Batman impersonator alongside good pal Brian (Superman) and steroid shooting Ricky (The Incredible Hulk), Stu’s love of alcohol, gambling and strippers has left him behind on his alimony, down on his luck and looking for a quick fix for both.

Seeing an opportunity to change his circumstances, Stu enlists his fellow superheroes for a daring heist that has the impersonators fall short of their counterparts’ lofty standards causing friendships to fracture and divisions to become deadly.

An Origin Story

Anyone who has read my book White Mexicans (I’ve been reliably informed there are at least three people) will have read the short story Heroes of Hollywood Boulevard and have gotten an insight into my love of all things cape, mask, and underpants outside of trouser-related.

Since writing that short, almost two years ago, I’ve been working on an expanded narrative that builds on the mess that Stu Hogan and co have made of their lives.  It has launched with Kindle Scout and is now available to vote for [here].  What does voting for HoHB mean?  Well, for one a five year deal with Amazon’s publishing wing and a $1500 advance.  The other (and probably less interesting) is my undying appreciation.

Long before my first trip to Los Angeles where I witnessed a bout of fisty-cuffs between Batman and Spongebob Squarepants, before Superman was carted off by the five-0 the foundations of Heroes of Hollywood Boulevard were laid.  As a kid I had a Spider-Man bike, Superman figures and just about Batman everything.  When I played with them I told stories, but it wasn’t the stories you’d find between the pages of DC and Marvel.  They were altogether different tales that just so happened to feature the Gamma green giant Hulk, the Caped Crusader and Web-Head.

Years later I wouldn’t even recall them, but they were there… waiting.  Then on a trip to LA I found myself leaning towards the Boulevard and the stories these men and women dressed in the cloth of legends had to tell.  For the most part their stories were that of the origins of the American Dream – they were fighting over territory.  Smaller than States, certainly, but all the same they were willing to go toe-to-toe with one another over a patch of concrete that could make or break rent day.  It was in that instant that I knew I wanted to write “something” about these heroes of Hollywood Boulevard… but what?  My first thought was their story, but after reaching out to a couple of performers it became apparent that help would be un-forthcoming unless I was able to shake loose a few greenbacks.

Back at the drawing board their single biggest truth kept ringing in my mind.  All the on-street conflict boiled down to territory.  Public land as private property; the idea that to occupy is to own and that it was the ownership of a particular section of street that was the difference between feeding their kids and not.

It is that truth, even now after countless tweaks, changes and revisions that appears on every page of the final novel.  In addition to that, two DC-Marvel crossover covers were kept at the forefront of my mind while writing.  Both are from 1981 (the year I was born), with the Batman vs Incredible Hulk book released in September of that year, the very month I was born.

Previously, I have found myself writing about incredibly personal issues.  Things that, to this day, make it uncomfortable to know someone I know has picked up a copy of Lost Angeles or Bone Idol [bohn ahyd-l] but in many ways Heroes of Hollywood Boulevard is the most personal read of them all, as it has been forming for as long as I’ve been able to hold an action figure or turn a comic page.

This Lit is Bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

To celebrate their first full year of short stories, Literally Stories are releasing Literally Stories – The Anthology on November, 16^th 2015.  Proceeds from the sale of this collection of short stories will go to help Book Bus, a UK based children’s literacy project operating largely in Ecuador, Malawi and Zambia.

Three of my own short stories from the recently published White Mexicans will be carried within the LS pages; The Greatest Cock That Ever Lived!, Ultra-Belfast and Joey Schaff (aka Genes & Seafood).

To learn more about the amazing work that Book Bus do click [here].

Buy me I'm poor!! UK | US

Another Day at Work

He thrust the edge of the bottle
into his own stupid neck and
with eyes like a sick rat's shithole
said gimme all the money, man!

You don't know where I've been &
you don't know what I've got but
I know you and I know you don't
want what I've got, so money!

The register dinged with excitement
as the jaw released, the drawer sprung
and all that green presented itself
Free and available to the brave

Jimmy landed on him quicker than a
frat boy on a drugged co-ed
But you don't know where I've been,
you don't know what I've got!

Sure I fucking do, scolded Jimmy snatching
the bottle & ramming it up the guy's asshole
You're my cousin you stupid cunt
rob somewhere else for a change

Birthday Giveaway

LOST ANGELES

Amazon US | Amazon UK

BONE IDOL [bohn ahyd-l]

Amazon US | Amazon UK

WHITE MEXICANS

Amazon US | Amazon UK

It Would Be Great

Oh if I were a cannibal
sure it would be great
I'd fill my fucking face
with the people I hate

I'd start off at work
then move on to the bar
Picking assholes from teeth
as I walked to my car

Oh yes, if I were a cannibal
I'd meet people like you
and if you pissed me off
I'd turn you into poo

Last of the White Mexicans

Last chance to enter our GoodReads competition to win a paperback of the book that's "Better than Disneyland on Mushrooms".

Goodreads Book Giveaway

White Mexicans

by David Louden

Giveaway ends August 21, 2015.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway