México is Calling!

My former flatmate Tigresa gave Toño and me a yearly subscription of Du, a Swiss magazine on culture, as a Christmas present. Today, we received the March issue, a special about 200 years of México's Independence from Spain.



Coincidentally yesterday, Toño was chanting...

Banderita, banderita.
Banderita tricolor,
Yo te doy toda mi vida
Y también mi corazón.

... because it was Mexican Flag Day. And it was only a week ago that we booked a trip to México for Easter. A niece of Toño will be baptised. So far, 300 guests have been invited. We were asked to share the cost for the band. I happily agreed, though I did not know yet that it will be Banda music. Not really my favourite kind of entertainment. But I reckon, it will be 1 against 299.

We will only be in México for a couple of weeks. Toño signed up again with his former employer, and they will be in the middle of the relaunch of their magazine. It was even difficult to get this break.

So till then, I should get a chance to read this issue of Du. I only breezed through it, and it looks really promising. Many thanks, Tigresa.

Update at 11:30pm

• Toño's sister Silvia gave birth to a cute girl in Morelia.
• Toño is right know on the phone with relatives in Los Angeles, and what I understood from the Spanish conversation, we will spend New Year's Eve in L.A.

Marvellous

When I was ordering The Devil's Paintbrush, I saw that there are also two films^* adapted from the first two books by Jake Arnott, The Long Firm and He Kills Coppers.



I loved them both, although I'd read and loved the novels they are based on. Both are of those rare cases where one can enjoy the adaptation when one knows the novel or one can read the novel after seeing the film.

There is also something about it over at just some words (here and here).

^* Mini series actually.

The Devil's Paintbrush

Last week, Jake Arnott's brand spanking new novel The Devil's Paintbrush arrived in the mail. I just could not resist, neglected Toño and rushed through it from cover to cover in barely a day.



A book with a title that is derived from the Maxim machine gun¹ can expected to be a bit like a Roman holiday.

Briefly summarized: Major-General Sir Hector Macdonald, a paragon of Victorian military virtue, is about to be court-martialed for pederastic activities. In Paris in March 1903, he encounters the occultist Aleister Crowley, who calls himself the Beast. Together, they embark into a memorable nightly ride through the sinful city, which ends with Macdonald doing the honourable thing.

As always with Jake Arnott, his ability to drag you into the authentic atmosphere of a time is astonishing. And yes, it is a bit sordid.

¹ The Maxim machine gun has a rate of fire of 666 rounds per minute, which makes it splosh red everywhere - hence the pet name.

Johnny Come Home

Last Sunday, I was in the mood to read. I grabbed Jake Arnott's latest novel Johnny Come Home from the shelf where it had been collecting dust for almost three years.



I have no idea how it could remain there so long. I loved Arnott's gangland trilogy, consiting of The Long Firm, He Kills Coppers and truecrime, which was the sophisticated fusion of gangsterism, show business, politics and gay culture. I particularly liked that they were without this coming-out or coming-of-age thing that is often involved when there is a gay storyline. The gangster boss just happened to be a bender and nobody dared to mess with him because of this (if I recall correctly).

Whatever, I started the book on Sunday and finished it yesterday. It has turned out to be a page turner. The Guardian review covers my thoughts quite good. For the once who just want the synopsis:

It's 1972 and as the dreams of the sixties give way to anger and political unrest, the charismatic anarchist Declan O'Connell commits suicide, leaving his boyfriend Pearson and fellow squatter Nina to try to make sense of what has happened. Enter Sweet Thing, a streetwise rent boy, who has an uncanny hold over glam rock star Johnny Chrome; and in the wings lurks Detective Sergeant Walker of the newly formed Bomb Squad, who knows more about O'Connell than anyone ever suspected. The course of all their lives is about to change forever -- for better and for worse.

Jake Arnott's fifth novel, The Devil's Paintbrush will come out by the end of this month. It is set in Paris in 1903, and deals with an encounter between disgraced former British Army officer Sir Hector Macdonald and the occultist Aleister Crowley. It's ordered.