A Fancy Dress Party at a Russian Lunatic Asylum
People call round to Randall’s apartment – too few to
mention really – and bellow drunkenly through the intercom, telling him that A
Fancy Dress Party at a Russian Lunatic Asylum ruined their marriages. An
out-of-work ventriloquial voice agent in a pink off-the-shoulder leotard comes
over with a shaved monkey on his shoulder…to which he gives the occasional
lick. A luckless trapeze artist with alopecia in its advanced stages sends Randall
pictures of graves with his name carved into each marble headstone. The writer corresponds
with a clinically depressed vulcanizer who lives on the Mirijevski Venac. He’s offered
to help Randall adapt his life story into a screenplay. A disgraced somnambulist
comes to his door at least twice a week: ‘I read your latest story on a men’s
room wall, and I think I can help you. I used to be a perform chemical
castrations for the communists’. Randall gives him a generous ten dinars for
his trouble and thanks him for his time. You have been warned…
Click on this link to buy your copy today.
Tales of Ordinary Sadness (2025 Reboot)
With Randall, the jury is still out. Tales of his own life are as strange as the very stories he writes. In a sense, Randall is a legend in his own front room, a holy drinker…tender, belligerent, a contradiction…these fifteen exceptional, highly original short stories come pounding out of a violent, unique, depraved mind…you cannot read tales of magic suits, demonic factories, and deformed hands and ever come away the same again.
Hands was long-listed for the RTÉ Guide/Penguin Ireland Short Story Competition 2015.
***** – David Willis, Beatdom Magazine
Randall '…is an intriguing writer who kept me entranced from start to finish. His writing style is bold, intense, disturbing, thought provoking, and very descriptive, with strong imagery.’
- Cindy Taylor, AllBooks Review
'Tales of Ordinary Sadness' is a fantastic collection of stories that will shock, challenge and delight. The writing is so perceptive it's almost unnerving. 5 out of 5 stars from me
- Rowena Wiseman, Author of The Replacement Wife, Harper Collins
Click on this link to buy your copy today.
The Belgrade School Shootings
When Issak Lazarevic, Serbia’s most celebrated living novelist, guns down ten of his own students, the nation reels in disbelief. Was it madness, or something far more deliberate?
In the wake of the massacre, veteran journalist Jelena Basturk, Lazarevic’s former partner and once his fiercest admirer, begins her own investigation. What she uncovers is a labyrinth of contradictions: strange sightings, eerie manuscripts written before the events they describe, and a network of educators seemingly influenced by the writer’s cryptic agenda.
As Serbia descends into chaos, with schools shuttered, books burned in Republic Square, and cities torn apart by protest, Jelena races to unravel the truth behind Lazarevic’s violent act and the disturbing prophecies that follow. When two new manuscripts arrive at her doorstep, predicting even darker chapters to come, she realizes the story is far from over.
The Belgrade School Shootings is a razor-sharp literary thriller about obsession, authorship, and the perilous intersection between fiction and reality. It’s the first in a gripping trilogy that takes readers from the classrooms of Belgrade to the war-torn borderlands of Eastern Europe, culminating in an act that could reshape global politics and redeem a killer.
Neil Randall, acclaimed author of A Quiet Place to Die and Three Days with Adrianna, crafts a chilling, genre-defying novel that is as much about the power of narrative as it is about the narratives that wield power.
Click on this link to buy your copy today.
The Professional Mourner
When Milica Stankovic is born, she won’t stop crying. The neighbours complain, her father is demoted at work, and the family is treated like pariahs. Regardless, her parents see something special in their daughter, how she seems possessed of a rare gift: to feel other people’s pain and suffering as if it’s her own.
When her father becomes friendly with a wily confidence trickster, they dream up a plot to hire out Milica’s services as a professional mourner. At the many funerals she attends, Milica expresses such raw emotion that it reduces the other mourners to fits of sobs, enabling them to finally release all their bottled-up grief, even for those who might not deserve it.
When word of Milica’s abilities reaches a high-ranking government official, Dušan Srna, he desperately wants to obtain her services. Their ailing leader is not only gravely ill, but his popularity has never been lower. If the Party can organise an emotionally-charged state funeral, Srna might just be able to uplift the nation’s spirits---but are his motives honourable?
Buy your copy now at amazon.
Three Days with Adrianna
A young woman returns to her home town to avenge her birth mother’s brutal drug-related death. After befriending the two men responsible, she incapacitates them and locks them up in a caravan. To obtain food and water, they have to consume an almost suicidal daily intake of intoxicants. In short: she forces them to participate in a sadistic game, drinking and drugging themselves to death in the exact same way her mother did all those years ago.
Buy now at Amazon
Bestial Burdens
There is no such thing as a feeling
Therapist Shaun Fox runs a successful creative writing programme. A modern, free-thinking man, unfettered by social convention, he has many sexual partners, and avoids long-term commitment at all costs. But his private life is taking a darker turn. Increasingly, he’s drawn to damaged, vulnerable women, women he can manipulate into becoming no more than sexual objects, women he has no genuine feelings for, leaving him cold and empty inside.
When ex-porn star Lucas McGoldrick is referred to him after a botched suicide attempt, Fox begins to see worrying parallels between his own narcissistic lifestyle and the life his new client used to live. Through a series of creative writing assignments and therapy sessions, Fox learns of McGoldrick’s own sexual odyssey, from tender, adolescent innocence to a nightmare of pornography, violence and addiction.
Refusing to acknowledge his own failings, Fox embarks upon another illicit affair, this time with a married woman, and is finally forced to confront the essential truths surrounding himself and all human relationships.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B086MJDY8R/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i4
The Nine Lives of Jacob Fallada
The story of an outsider, a lonely, misunderstood young artist who
chronicles all the unpleasant things that happen to him in life. Abandoned by
his parents, brought up be a tyrannical aunt, bullied at school, ostracised by
the local community, nearly everyone Jacob comes into contact with takes an
instant, (often) violent dislike towards him. Like Job from the bible, he is
beaten and abused, manipulated and taken advantage of. Life, people, fate,
circumstance force him deeper into his shell, deeper into the cocoon of his
fledgling artistic work, where he records every significant event in sketches,
paintings and short-form verse, documenting his own unique, eminently miserable
human experience. At heart, he longs for companionship, intimacy, love, but is
dealt so many blows he is too scared to reach out to anybody. On the fringes of
society, he devotes himself solely to his art. When his sketches, paintings and
verse finally come to the attention of a local gallery owner, Jacob tragically
dies and never gets to see his work receive the recognition it deserves.
Praise for The Nine Lives of Jacob Fallada
A dark,
bitter-sweet comedy drama with a distinctly cinematic feel to it… hilarious,
captivating and brilliantly written… A well-deserved five stars…Highly recommended…
Emerald
Book Reviews
Click on the link below to order your copy from amazon today:
The Girl in the Empty Room
A troubled single mother goes missing. A highly unusual sexually-transmitted infection spreads around a small town. Two bodies wash up on a beach.
Are these seemingly unrelated events connected to a government plot to eliminate undesirable members of society; an ancient myth about an Indian chief; a series of unsolved copycat murders; or to a self-proclaimed shaman and tattooist – a man who believes his body art is infused with magical powers?
Hundreds of people eventually succumb to the infection. The town is quarantined. The shaman’s tattoos do indeed come to life, inciting gruesome acts of violence. In a supernatural twist, the missing woman becomes an unlikely hero – a wrathful conduit – avenging a great evil perpetrated against a peaceful tribe of people hundreds of years ago.
Click on link to order your copy: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B072JWDZYM/ref=la_B00JYXI862_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1496771017&sr=1-5
ISOLATION
When an office worker receives a photograph of a
grisly murder scene, he thinks it's a prank, not the start of a killing spree
where he knows each and every victim.
Nigel Randolph, a solitary man with a history of
mental health problems, is implicated in a macabre set of killings, drawn into
a dark world of subterfuge and deception, which leaves him questioning his own
sanity.Randolph discovers evidence of radical hypnotherapy sessions, that
he may have been experimented upon as a child, and is now victim of a
high-level cover-up. Only if he can piece together what happened to him during
the controversial psychiatric treatment of his youth, will he ever find out the
truth.
Praise for Isolation:
ISOLATION is a sure-fire
page-turner, constantly suffused with the questions of "what next"
and "what really happened" inextricably intertwined. Readers will be
on the edge of their seats trying to ascertain the facts, and beyond that, the
truth of the facts. Fans of the 1960's TV series "The Prisoner" will
witness similar overtones, and literate readers will see glimpses of the
nightmarish dystopia of "1984," and of the unspeakable mind-control
experimentation of "Firestarter." But ISOLATION stands on its own
substantial merits, a novel which will ring long in memory.
To say this is the most
bizarre book I have ever read is an understatement! It's like One Flew Over the
Cuckoo's Nest meets The Silver Linings Playbook. I adored the narrator, Nigel
as well as the twists and turns on literally every page as he desperately tries
to solve the brutal murders of others in the experimental "support"
group he was involved in as a teen. Nothing is what it seems...I stayed up until
the middle of the night to finish this one! A must-read for sure!
Isolation is a disturbing
story. Beginning with such an ordinary, believable and, to many I would
suspect, mind-numbingly recogisable start to the working week, it becomes at
first alarming but then bizarre. At one point I was thinking, no, this is too
weird! But then the weirdness itself becomes intriguing, as how can the story
possible pan out? The answer is as chilling as it is sad and is left, to a
certain extent, for the reader to make up their own mind.
'I might
be insane but I'm not stupid', came to my mind while reading this
book. This 'Psychological Thriller' which includes influences of ' One Flew
Over the Cuckoo's Nest', and 'Shutter
Island
Wow! What a twisted thriller
of a book! This one made me question my sanity a few times. This book kept me
on my toes and made me nervous to read it late at night. Great book to read
when you are looking for a book that will make you think about it long after
it's over. If you like psychological
thrillers then Neil Randall's debut full length book will not disappoint.
This book took me by surprise.
I don't know what I was expecting when I went in but it wasn't this…In fact, I
read it in one day….Full of twists and turns, you don't know what's real and
what's not. The author writes
stories within the story – Native American myths, journal entries, a letter, a
few chapters from another book. To me, it's a sign of a good author when he can
keep your interest on so many different topics in the span of one book. The
ending came right out of left field, I was not expecting it….It certainly ended
with a bang!
Click on the link below to order your copy today:
When an office worker receives a photograph of a
grisly murder scene, he thinks it's a prank, not the start of a killing spree
where he knows each and every victim.
Nigel Randolph, a solitary man with a history of
mental health problems, is implicated in a macabre set of killings, drawn into
a dark world of subterfuge and deception, which leaves him questioning his own
sanity.
As the police investigation progresses, Randolph discovers evidence of radical hypnotherapy sessions, that
he may have been experimented upon as a child, and is now victim of a
high-level cover-up. Only if he can piece together what happened to him during
the controversial psychiatric treatment of his youth, will he ever find out the
truth.
TALES OF ORDINARY SADNESS
With Randall, the jury is still
out. Tales of his own life are as strange as the very stories he writes. In a
sense, Randall is a legend in his own front room, a holy drinker…tender,
belligerent, a contradiction…these fifteen exceptional, highly original short
stories come pounding out of a violent, unique, depraved mind…you cannot read
tales of magic suits, talking jackets, demonic factories and deformed hands and
ever come away the same again.
Hands was long-listed for the RTÉ Guide/Penguin Ireland Short Story Competition
2015
Praise for Tales of Ordinary Sadness
'Tales of Ordinary Sadness' is a fantastic collection of stories that will shock, challenge and
delight. The writing is so perceptive it's almost unnerving. 5 out of 5 stars
from me
Randall '…demonstrates a grasp of how to stencil out a
character. In Council Flat Caviar, a
study of a man who’s fallen through the cracks…in a sense a man already dead…he
inhabits the perspective of a leering, bitter individual without judging
him…this takes empathy, and the contrast that Randall draws between the
character's present life and his younger days, when he had friends and a sense
of hope, generates a convincing portrait of loss.'
-
Charles Wolford, for Quadrapheme
Literary Review
TRUST NO ONE
When a renowned film maker's girlfriend disappears from a busy London pub, he fears the worst. But nothing could prepare him for what was about to unfold.
A bitter former friend, cultural terrorists and a gruesome discovery direct him to the horrifying truth…
A dark mystery thriller with a terrifying twist from the author of 'A Quiet Place to Die', Published by Wild Wolf Publishing
Praise for Trust No One:
From the very fist page,I knew this book was going to be brilliant.It was very well written and the unusual plot kept me pinned to my seat,wishing I could read faster to find out what was going to happen next.This is the story of the ultimate revenge and just when you think it can't get any more demented,it does.Fantastic read!!!
Strange book, but rather intriguing and quite thought provoking. Well worth a read if you fancy should a little different.
A very twisted page turner some very dark stories within a story, well worth a read
BUY NOW >> http://www.amazon.com/Trust-No-One-Neil-Randall-ebook/dp/B015VG8YK0
THE BUTTERFLY AND THE WHEEL
Turgenovsky is second-rate writer whose literary aspirations far outweigh his talents. When arrested with student friends, he is drawn into revolutionary circles more through chance than conviction, having an unwitting impact on the earth-shattering events taking place around him. During the Civil War, he denounces another writer, steals his manuscript, and rises to the summit of Soviet society, eventually coming under Stalin's patronage. The future Party leader realizes how useful this ambitious young man could be, and writes articles under his name, criticizing anyone opposed to his own political views. Scarred by a brutal upbringing and an unrequited passion for his half-sister, Turgenovsky never lets anybody get too close. He has lovers and colleagues arrested if they threaten to expose him as a fraud.Praise for The Butterfly & the Wheel:
‘A
powerful, panoramic view of the history of the Soviet Union , told through one man’s eyes. This is a novel to
savour.’ (William Ryan, author of The Holy
Thief, Pan Macmillan)
‘Drawn by the Russian backdrop, I was held by the dry humour, the
flamboyantly Russian characters and the unlikely juxtaposition of Lenin,
Trotsky and a grubby little self serving writer all caught up in the glorious
revolution.’ (Frances Kaye, author of Micka,
Picador).
‘This is a book that deserves the
highest respect, a brilliant example of historical/literary fiction. I can’t
wait to put it on my shelf next to my Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky and Chekhov.’ (John
Campbell, author of Walk to Paradise
Garden).
Published by Knox Robinson, available as a paperback, hardcover or ebook
BUY NOW >> http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Butterfly-Wheel-Neil-Randall/dp/1908483741
A QUIET PLACE TO DIE
E-Thrillers of the Month Highly Recommended! "Explosive"A grieving man is about to wake up a sleepy fishing village and a crooked local builder is about to take one hell of a fall. This is the story of two very different men on a very definite and catastrophic collision course.
A gripping and fast-paced 30,000 word novella. Straw Dogs with British bite.
"Randall builds and maintains the tension throughout...finally coming together at the end for a highly charged confrontation."
Published by Wild Wolf Publishing
BUY NOW >> http://www.amazon.com/A-Quiet-Place-Die-Randall-ebook/dp/B00AWCM2RK
Praise for A Quiet Place to Die:
Bobby Philips has relocated to a sleepy fishing village following a strange tragedy. His next door neighbour is a local builder with a reputation as a rogue in his trade. The author teases the reader by giving us small amounts of information about Bobby’s tragedy to keep the pages turning. At the same time a dark comedy flows through.
The twist at the end is explosive and it was a great end to the story. I expect to hear a lot more about the author Neil Randall over the coming years.
Rating: Highly recommended
Review by Jane Brown
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THE HOLY DRINKER
When Maximov-the-Drinker collapses on his settee after a five-day binge, visions of his first love and glimpses of life as it once was, and can never be again, flood his mind. A horrible sense of sadness and regret overwhelms him--he has wasted his youthful years on drink. When his housekeeper enters the room next morning, she finds in place of her master, and the settee on which he slept, a vat of ruby-red wine. The local priest, captain of the military garrison and Chernov-the-Moneylender, visit the house. Awed by such a strange and compelling sight, they agree to keep the discovery between themselves until a military delegation arrives from Petersburg. However, none of them can resist sampling the wine, each experiencing wondrous visions. What's more, the vat miraculously replenishes itself, providing an inexhaustible supply. Soon word spreads throughout the town and all who drink of it become desperate to gain exclusive access... at their peril. The Holy Drinker is written in the style of a Gogolian fable. It is set in a provincial Russian town at the turn of the twentieth century.Published by Knox Robinson, available as a paperback, hardcover or ebook
BUY NOW >> http://www.amazon.com/The-Holy-Drinker-Neil-Randall/dp/1908483911
Praise for The Holy Drinker:
“This mystical and entertaining fable engages from the outset, conveying period details of rural Russian life and the nature and relationships of the multiple characters with sparse but effective detail.”
Janet Williamson, The Historical Novel Society
“The novel comes across as something authentic from a long-forgotten yet not yet overcome past…Strindbergian in proportion, with dreams and drunken hallucinations as symbols of a better utopian world ... this novel can be called a post-modern novel in the best sense of the word.”
Professor Slobodanka Millicent Vladiv-Glover, School of Languages, Literature, Culture and Linguistics, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
“Randall draws on the Gogolian tradition, writing something that is essentially a long short story, a popular genre in Russian literature. Like Gogol the action moves swiftly and is highly entertaining, incorporating folk beliefs and elements of the supernatural, and a cast of distinctive characters.”
Professor Faith Wigzell, ULC School of Slavonic and Eastern European Studies