Cyril's Lottery of Life
CONGRATULATIONS TO loudmouth former politician Alan Shatter, whose saucy novel has been attracting rather a lot of media attention here. Given that it is a Benny Hill-style legal tale featuring an English town judge who “likes to retire to bed in a nappy and be bottle-fed”, this is quite the achievement. His publisher deserves a lot of credit.
There have been articles in the likes of the Indo, where Shatter boasts that his “comedy novel”, Cyril’s Lottery of Life, comes with “guaranteed laughs”. This may refer to characters like Fred Endwhistle (geddit?), who “flatulates his way through the late night television news”. Then there’s the hilarious word play associated with, for example, hairstylist Desiree Honeycomb, whose work “includes blow jobs” (geddit?). Asked in court whether a customer had behaved with decorum, the lively Desiree points out: “I know nothing about dick or rum.”
No doubt the former justice minister brought the house down last month when the Irish Jewish Museum hosted ‘An Evening of Poetry & Prose with Alan Shatter’, while there have also been book signings at the likes of Hodges & Figgis.
The author must be most happy with the promotional campaign carried out by his publisher, the little-known Herbertshire Press. It was only established in July this year by one Alan Shatter, who also uses the UK self-publishing platform Brown Dog Books (behind titles like Let’s Kill All The Lawyers) to bring his “distinctive humour” to a wide audience.
You have been warned.
