Christopher Brookmyre @ EIBF

 

Christopher Brookmyre has written a good few books now, but, as he told a packed audience during this event, his most read work would seem to be the ‘Guide to Playground Football’ that he wrote for the (late, lamented) football fanzine The Absolute Game in the early nineties. This irreverent guide to the nutcasery of school sports at playtimes has been posted and reposted around the web to the point that Brookmyre has been sent it by friends, telling him that it’ll bring back memories. “Aye, to when I wrote the bloody thing!” was his punchline. Brookmyre read a little from his recent book Pandaemonium, and otherwise was as entertaining as he always is, telling anecdotes about being banned from reading in Dundee, and being persuaded to tell a disgusting/amusing story about a cooked chicken again (if you’ve been to one of his events you’ll know it, if you haven’t, don’t ask). Most significantly, Brookmyre read an early piece from his new work in progress, which is a change in direction into more serious crime fiction. If the section he read was any indication, it’ll certainly be darker, and it sounded promising. If it’s anywhere near as successful as the ‘Guide to Playground Football’, he’s on to a winner. [Keir Hind]