The Great
God Pan (1894) - Arthur Machen
This
story features one of the earliest brain operations in
literature. King of Horror Machen is either unfairly Uncle Tom-ed
by Welsh literary critics or just plain ignored. Ought to be a
statue of him a hundred feet tall erected in Gwent.
My People
(1915) - Caradoc Evans
The undisputed bad boyo of Welsh fiction. His savage but
sylistically brilliant satire on Welsh rural Nonconformity has
mutated over time into a gothic masterpiece. And anyone who can
cause an actual riot is alright by me.
Red Alert (1958) - Peter George
Stanley Kubrick based his film Doctor
Strangelove on this grim slice of Cold War
pulp fiction. Along with Kubrick and Terry Southern, George
co-wrote the film-script and later its noveliztion. Despite the
film's success Peter George, who suffered from depression, blew
his own brains out in 1966.
Make Room
for the Jester (1964) - Stead Jones
A group of outcast teenagers mooch about a fictionalized Pwllheli
and befriend a troubled drunkard. Set in 1939, this superb
depiction of adolesence is the Welsh Catcher
in the Rye. Someone, somewhere, please,
please, reprint this novel!
The
Division (1967) - Bill Meilen
Meilen, from Cardiff, based his story of a Welsh delinquent who
is sent to a borstal on his own experiences. A version intended
for television was banned as it was deemed too violent for public
consumption. High-quality piece of trash-fiction.
Beyond
Belief (1967) - Emlyn Williams
Williams followed Truman Capote's lead and wrote a classic work
of faction that is regarded as something of a masterpiece. A
haunting account of the Moors Murders, it puts most of today's
exploitational "cuttings job" True Crime efforts to
shame.
The
Insider (1981) by Christopher Evans
Against a backdrop of Fascism on the rise in Britain, an alien
invades the bodies of human beings turning them into introverts.
Most paperback editions of this eerie near-future sci-fi book
were accidentally pulped making it all the more collectible and
culty.
Pepsi-Cola
Addict by June Gibbons
Extremely
difficult to get hold of novel by Silent
Twin June Gibbons. Also keep and eye out
for Discomania written
by her twin sister Jennifer. Both books were published by New
Horizon.
The Smell
of Telescopes (1999) - Rhys Hughes
Want weird? Then Rhys Hughes is your man. This collection
of 26 surreal stories published by Tartarus is typically
Hughesian - clever, absurd, and international in outlook. If I
was to bet on which current Welsh writer will have the most
lasting literary impact - I'd put my money on Hughes.
Cardiff
Dead (2000) - John Williams
Whilst most crime writers sensationalise their fictional worlds
Williams does the complete opposite - he humanises the pimp, the
prostitute, and the shoplifter. Add in a bit of ska, some
improvised surfing and Cardiff has, at last, its defining
literary voice.
Chasm City
(2001) - Alastair Reynolds
When Chasm City (2001)
won the British Science Fiction Award for best novel not a single
word was printed about it in any Welsh literary magazine. Nor,
inexplicably, has it figured in the debate about 'Welsh noir'
even though Reynolds' dark worlds are based upon the Welsh
industrial landscapes of his youth.
Sheepshagger
(2001) - Niall Griffiths
In
Ianto, Griffiths has created the ultimate Welsh outsider figure.
The author mixes rural/small town gothic with moments of
draw-dropping violence. After reading it you'll want to kill the
next middle-class white boy wearing an England shirt that you
see.
Bubbling under: The Strange Invaders (1934) by Alun Llewellyn; The King who Lived on Jelly (1961) by Cledwyn Hughes; Glass Shot (1991) by Duncan Bush; Landor's Tower (2001) by Iain Sinclair; A Bloody Good Friday (2002) by Desmond Barry; Deadwater by Sean Burke (2002); What Rough Beast (2003) by Gary Greenwood.