Welcome To Coolsville It's the second quarter of the 21st century, well into the upswing following a long recession. In the Archive, deep in the basement of the WentWest building in Maymon Glades, Marshall McLemon and Papa Charlie McCormack aren't seeing many of the benefits. Then, when a beautiful doctor stages a prison break, WentWest Europe's effete French boss flies into town, and an order of egalitarian kung-fu nuns, known as the Vervain Mystery Girls, begins taking an interest in local affairs, things start to change for them. Jason Mordaunt's Welcome To Coolsville is fast, funny and utterly original - Thomas Pynchon meets Flann O'Brien. An astonishing debut which marks the arrival of a formidable new novelist. |
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Welcome To Coolsville was published in May 2003 by Jonathan Cape (left), and issued as a Vintage paperback (right) in July 2004. Apparently it's still available at amazon.co.uk and amazon.com. |
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Reviews “Airborne from the very first page... Mordaunt handles his oddball cast of characters with great comic aplomb.” “It’s a high wire piece of plotting and a whole lot of fun.” “This promising debut had fellow Liffey-sider Roddy Doyle offering praise... the humour is droll, earthy and occasionally laugh-out-loud.” “... edgy, intriguing debut... enough imaginative breeze blowing to keep our interest keen... crisp prose and a colourful cast... All in all a bracing, satisfying ride.” “It’s no surprise that little, if any, speculative fiction has been based in Ireland recently... the simple fact of the matter is that this country isn’t, well, sexy enough for that knowing, sardonic, technologically savvy kind of fiction. Until now. Step forward Jason Mordaunt and his highly tipped debut novel, Welcome To Coolsville... a remarkable debut that is fizzing with ideas... Mordaunt’s arrival is something to be celebrated.” “This is a sassy, spacy, satirical novel set in Dublin in a future unlikely enough to make you chuckle and awful enough to be distinctly plausible. Thus, “Coolsville”, or Maymon Glades, a subopolis well west of the Liffey mouth. The media insist that the influx of high-tech money has made it a “cool” place to live; unimpressed locals say the name was coined by ex-cons from WentWest Correctional, aka the “cooler”. See? You’re smiling already. Confident sans brash, Irish sans stage and definitely sans sentiment, packed with wonderful oddballs and so adeptly plotted that it never drops the ball - not even at the end - Welcome To Coolsville is welcome indeed. It’s a hoot.” “Welcome to Coolsville is written as entertainment but has educational potential... drug abuse... medical negligence and basic neurochemistry are given unique but memorable treatment.” |
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