CHRISTOPHER DELVES INTO THE UNKNOWN

Aug 10 2007

http://icrenfrewshire.icnetwork.co.uk/pde/news/tm_headline=christopher-delves-into-the-unknown&method=full&objectid=19607083&siteid=63858-name_page.html

ONE of Scotland’s leading writers has opened a new chapter into the world of the unknown in his latest book.

Novelist Christopher Brookmyre, 38, takes a look at mediums and psychics in Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks, a title well in keeping with Christopher’s lengthy and quirky tags for his books.

This is his 11th novel, and again features investigative journalist Jack Parlabane.

But is Parlabane dead or alive?

Is he communicating from beyond?

Christopher, a lifelong St Mirren fan who confessed he had to dress up in a Batman costume to fuilfil a pledge when Saints won the league, told the Paisley Daily Express: “The novel explores the world of the supposed paranormal.

“It is definitely a novel and not a treatise. There is an element of mystery to it.”

The writer, from Barrhead, continued: “Due to a highly unforeseen turn of events, Jack Parlabane has been elected Rector of Glasgow's Kelvin University, and asked, in his capacity as Rector and known sceptic to be an official observer in a ground-breaking experiment.

“Celebrity psychic Gabrielle Lafayette has challenged the university’s scientific community to impose whatever controls they wish and prove once and for all whether paranormal activity – mind-reading, levitating objects, speaking to the dead, all that sort of woo-woo – does in fact exist.

“Delighted to have the opportunity to re-educate the believers – the unsinkable rubber ducks – Jack promptly accepts.

“But the outcome of the experiment with Lafayette is far from what the scientists and he could have imagined plus to cap it all, Jack Parlabane is now dead.”

This will delight the legions of fans who enjoy Christopher Brookmyre’s quirkiness and plot twists.

Here’s a quote from the new novel: “Do you believe in ghosts?

“You’d think an abject lack of any kind of reliable evidence whatsoever would have this one filed away and forgotten; gathering dust between the folders marked Fairies at the Bottom of the Garden and Iraq’s Weapons of Mass Destruction.

“But no, it’s still clinging on to the hairy ring of human comprehension, and the lavvy paper of reason just can’t quite wipe it off. I want my credentials – and in particular my position with regard to this sort of thing – very thoroughly established before I make what is for me an extremely awkward and, frankly, embarrassing revelation.

“Okay, here goes. My name is Jack Parlabane and I’m pan-breid. Aye, that’s right, don’t kid yourself you can’t understand the rhyming slang.

“And let me finish before you laugh – you’ll get more out of it once you hear the details...”

Now living in Bothwell, Lanarkshire, Christopher still has strong links with Renfrewshire.

His parents still live in Barrhead and he is a devoted fan of St Mirren FC.

The writer famously joined two friends in dressing up in Batman costumes at a match at Love Street.

“We had said that if St Mirren won the league we would put the costumes on – and we did,” he recalled with a blush.

Christopher is now working on another novel, an there is a film script in the pipeline too.

But he is remaining pretty tight-lipped about the details.

“It’s a horror film,” he said. “It’s in the very early stages.”