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.

Downward Facing Doug

Venice Books are releasing my two Roman á clef novels Lost Angeles & Bone Idol [bohn ahyd-l] in one Kindle busting edition cleverly named Downward Facing Doug.  Though DFD won't be available in Paperback before Christmas (as that's dangerously close to a capitalistic manifesto) it will be available on Kindle from Jesus' birthday.

In addition to the two novels there'll also be three short stories from a collection I'm tentatively calling Short Stories That All Definitely Happened including Death RRP $19.99 [click here to read], A Short Story For Creationists and The Greatest Cock That Ever Lived.  If you've bought someone a Kindle for Christmas and want to fill it with 400 plus pages about life, love, sex, death, addiction and dog wanking then Downward Facing Doug is the book for you!

Merry Christmas Internet!

“BUKOWSKI COMPARISONS ARE JUSTIFIED. LOUDEN HAS A TURN OF PHRASE THAT COULD PUT BIGGER NAMES TO SHAME…” Thom Fell – author of ‘Acceptable in the Eighties’

“TRULY IMPRESSIVE…A WORK OF ART!” Wendy Powers – author of ‘The Testament of Judith Barton’

“A DEBAUCHED, TOUCHING, MESSED UP LOOK AT LOVE & LOSS. FABULOUS.”Inanity & the Girl

“MOVING, BIG-HEARTED AND OFTEN HILARIOUS.” – GoodReads review

“EMOTIONAL, HEARTBREAKING, THOUGHT PROVOKING […] A GREAT BOOK.” – GoodReads review

“IT’S LIKE FRANK McCOURT AND RODDY DOYLE HAD A BABY AND IT WAS LOUDEN’S BONE IDOL” – GoodReads review

Lost Angeles: 1 Dec, 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?

4.73/5 on GoodReads

Bone Idol [bohn ahyd-l]: 28 Nov, 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. 

4.33/5 on GoodReads

Short & (Bitter) Sweet

Some of the most striking, powerful, and down-trodded prose you're ever likely to read. Memorising and maniacal in equal measure. One or two shorts show the influence of Fante's work in a way that's beautifully evolutionary.

Ti Amo Bella Roma

Two incredibly powerful novellas from the most important American writer of his generation. I love John Fante, I love his prose and the guilt of Catholicism he laces throughout his work. Greater appreciation of WEST OF ROME can be found the more you encounter the man's work. Truly magnificent.

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

It’s my birthday next week so to celebrate turning thirty-two years on this planet without siring offspring (with the exception of my pug, Molly) the price of my little word baby Lost Angeles is being cut from $2.95 to $0.99.  Similarly if you’ve purchased a paperback copy check into Amazon as you’ll be able to obtain a Kindle version for FREE.  Good, huh?  Yeah, I thought you’d like that.

 

Cut price off ends on Monday 9th September 2013.

Forthcoming Publication

BONE IDOL [bohn ahyd-l]

noun Chiefly North Belfast

1.

a person from the Oldpark, known as “The Bone”, with aspirations of a career in the arts or above their socio-economic station.

Following up on last year’s release of Lost Angeles, Venice Books will be publishing David Louden’s second novel Bone Idol on Thanksgiving, November 28th 2013.  The sophomore follow-up to his roman á clef debut Lost Angeles is the semi-biographical tale of the author’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 Idolis filled with humour, sex, guilt and the shameful dream of a boy wanting to create more than a family of haunted heirs.

Early readings of Bone Idol have drawn comparisons with the likes of Charles Bukowski and Brendan Behan as Louden paints a downbeat existence contrasting the magic of infinite childhood possibilities with the often grim reality of working class Belfast in the 1980’s and 90’s.  

There will be a limited amount of paperback and ebook copies available in advance for review.  If you are interested in reviewing Bone Idol please click [here] to contact the author.  Lost Angeles is still available on Kindle and Paperback.  It can be purchased [here] for U.S customers and [here] for U.K.

5 star review: Trip To The Edge of Self Destruction

I came across this novel in Goodreads. I followed with interest the author's reviews of other works and his blog and I must admit I loved the title. It had been on my `to read' list for a while, and I'm pleased to say that I finally found the time to read it and I'm very pleased I did.
Lost Angeles reads like a memoir, but not your standard memoir (if there is such a thing). The book follows the protagonist, Doug, a young and articulate man from Belfast, and his travels/adventures in Los Angeles. Doug is not in Los Angeles to see the sights, although the does see many sights (some that none of us would wish to see). From the beginning you realise that he's there with a mission. You don't come to realise quite how determined he is to self-destruct until much later in the book. He drinks, takes drugs, engages in casual sex, and drifts from cheap accommodation to even cheaper digs (including the `Lost Angeles' of the title that used to be a place for sex for sale) all the time meeting real people. Some idiots, some nice but misguided, some lost and looking, some also drifters.
The reasons for Doug's trip are slowly revealed through interspersed chapters about his life back home (I'm a bit reluctant to call them flashbacks. They're memories, but too long, detailed and elaborate to be what's more generally understood as flashback). You quickly realise that he's mourning the end of what seems to have been his most significant relationship, but later you realise that there is more to it than that, and come to care and empathise with Doug even more. Because if there's something notable about the novel is that despite behaviour that many of us would neither approve of, not adhere to, we like Doug. He might drive us insane if we met him but...whilst embarked on his self-destructive path he tries his hardest to help others and to do no harm. By the end you're rooting for him and hope that against all odds things will work out for him.
A very personal novel, I truly enjoyed Lost Angeles. This is a novel for adults and I'd recommend it to anybody who wants to read about real people coping with life, as best they can. I look forward to many more books by Mr Louden.

Another 5 Star Review for Doug

Doug Morgan is a young Irishman in Los Angeles with ten grand in his pocket and self-destruction in mind. With this premise, you could be forgiven for thinking that David Louden's 'Lost Angeles' would be little more than a comical booze-fuelled odyssey through the low (and high) life of Noughties Hollywood. But what Louden achieves is much greater than this. By contrasting and paralleling Morgan's misadventures in the acid neon glare of the clubs and dives of L.A.with the unravelling relationship in wintryBelfast that led him there, Louden has created a work of depth and warmth that means for once, Bukowski comparisons are justified. Louden has a turn of phrase that could put bigger names to shame, and an eye for detail that means his Belfast and North Hollywood are as sharply-defined as the well-drawn characters. Moving, big-hearted and often hilarious, Louden has produced something genuinely special. Not to be missed.