RIP DAVID BRITTON

 

David Edward Britton, 1945–2020

"David Britton wrote books that weren't novels so much as middle fingers. In the dull wasteland of contemporary letters, he stood out for his singularity of vision, ferocity of style, and opposition to authority. His books will endure—the Grim Reaper can take away the man's body but not his words, his ideas, or the example of his defiance. David Britton is dead. Long live Lord Horror!" — Keith Seward

this news hit just after i spent the afternoon nursing my wounds from the latest publishing house rejection (this time due to not using their preferred file format. twansgwessive pubwishing everybody), chipping away at the meager stimulus payment so i could purchase some Reverbstorm comics and the Lord Horror audiobook. 

 after the 2019 came-and-wenting of my first published book PIECEMEAL, i didn't receive much feedback, but the micro-attention that i did get would often invoke the name "Burroughs". 

 i would graciously accept that comparison, but i would also take care to mention 2 other authors who i feel had a more overwhelming influence on not just PIECEMEAL, but the maybe-possibly-perhaps forthcoming follow-up works. 

 the first author was Pierre Guyotat, who passed early in 2020. 

the second author was David Britton, who passed late in 2020, 

quite the bookends there, eh? 

 David Britton's LORD HORROR universe of novels, comic books, and audio media propell beyond the fading pale echoes of "splatterpunk", "cosmic dread", "dark enlightenment", "apocalypse culture", and/or "transgressive" literature, occupying a singular terrain of murderously comedic, humorously savage stress-dream ventilations that overwhelm the reader with its densely populated tapestry of relentless obscenity, rudderless pop music footnotes, and gleefully retold factoids of unforgiving human atrocity.

 recommended with the highest possible encouragement and enthusiasm.