Charlie Williams (UK writer)
Encyclopedia
Charlie Williams is an English writer born in 1971 who has published three novels and a number of short stories. Williams grew up in the town of Worcester
on the borders of Western England, and was educated at Swansea University
. Williams' novels comprise The Mangel Trilogy, three books about nightclub doorman Royston Blake, set in the fictional town of Mangel, which is based loosely on Worcester itself.
Deadfolk was published in 2004, Fags and Lager in 2005, and King of the Road in 2006. Comic, rural noir in the style of writers such as Jim Thompson
, they use a colloquial first-person narrative throughout, in dialect, with Royston Blake as narrator. Thematically the novels explore dysfunctional masculinity and the decline and alienation of provincial Britain, and are littered with references to popular cultural icons of the seventies and eighties (Blake's, and Williams', formative period). Previous to the success of the Mangel Trilogy Williams had attempted for some years to break into the horror genre, and the sensibilities of that field are detectable in his published work (see, for example, the chainsaw scene in Deadfolk).
Williams lives outside Worcester with his wife and two children. He used to work in IT but does not anymore.
Worcester
The City of Worcester, commonly known as Worcester, , is a city and county town of Worcestershire in the West Midlands of England. Worcester is situated some southwest of Birmingham and north of Gloucester, and has an approximate population of 94,000 people. The River Severn runs through the...
on the borders of Western England, and was educated at Swansea University
Swansea University
Swansea University is a university located in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom. Swansea University was chartered as University College of Swansea in 1920, as the fourth college of the University of Wales. In 1996, it changed its name to the University of Wales Swansea following structural changes...
. Williams' novels comprise The Mangel Trilogy, three books about nightclub doorman Royston Blake, set in the fictional town of Mangel, which is based loosely on Worcester itself.
Deadfolk was published in 2004, Fags and Lager in 2005, and King of the Road in 2006. Comic, rural noir in the style of writers such as Jim Thompson
Jim Thompson (writer)
James Myers Thompson was an American author and screenwriter, known for his pulp crime fiction....
, they use a colloquial first-person narrative throughout, in dialect, with Royston Blake as narrator. Thematically the novels explore dysfunctional masculinity and the decline and alienation of provincial Britain, and are littered with references to popular cultural icons of the seventies and eighties (Blake's, and Williams', formative period). Previous to the success of the Mangel Trilogy Williams had attempted for some years to break into the horror genre, and the sensibilities of that field are detectable in his published work (see, for example, the chainsaw scene in Deadfolk).
Williams lives outside Worcester with his wife and two children. He used to work in IT but does not anymore.