Derek Raymond: Read ALL Of His Work

Writer Derek Raymond in trademark beret

Catching up on The Rap Sheet‘s tribute series to legendary writer Derek Raymond. Two installments in this post.

The Book You Have to Read: “I Was Dora Suarez,” by Derek Raymond by writer Cathi Unsworth.

Cook risked it all with his 1990 novel, I Was Dora Suarez.

He did! Unfortunately, it was difficult to me to get Derek Raymond’s novels years ago, so I read I Was Dora Suarez as the first one. That was a mistake, because it’s a book you must work up to by reading the preceding three in the Factory series.

It was the most devastating novel I’d ever read. Nothing has even come near it since. And I don’t think anything ever will.

And this is the final installment in The Rap Sheet tribute series, done by writer Ray Banks, who is no slouch himself. I recommend Banks too.

The Book You Have to Read: “Dead Man Upright,” by Derek Raymond

[Y]ou don’t read Raymond for the realism, you read him for his worldview, and that worldview is shot through with a Jacobean sense of moral decay.

Additional:

Derek Raymond Tribute site
Rare Derek Raymond photograph
Derek Raymond’s current publisher

Previously at Mike Cane’s Blog:

Derek Raymond: He Makes All Others Look Like Shit

Previously at Mike Cane 2008:

Writer Derek Raymond
Writer Derek Raymond Tribute

Previously here:

The Immortal Writer Derek Raymond
Derek Raymond Still Lives
Derek Raymond Is Your Year-End Reading
God Bless Writer Derek Raymond
Derek Raymond