‘ADAM SPARK EMERGED OUT OF CHAOS AND PANIC'
A brigh spark
What makes someone truly heroic? ALAN BISSETT tells Allan Radcliffe that it took him a couple of goes before bringing us his latest incredible creation.
econd novels are notoriously difficult to create.
particularly if your debut won you a battalion
of fans and marked you out for great things. Alan Bissett‘s Bavrat'ers was such a first novel. its rocket-paced. hilarious depiction of teenage kicks in Falkirk as viewed through the impressionable eyes of Pink Floyd fan Alvin. won high praise from the likes of Ali Smith and Des Dillon. Momentum gathering, Bissett embarked on a new work when mayhem and confusion struck. Having spent less than a year creating anrmwrs. the process of following up his debut was to last a painful three years.
Happily. the result. The Incredible Adam Spark, has been worth waiting for. As Bissett outlines. the novel focuses on the shifting relationship between a remarkable young fast food worker and the sister who has cared for him since childhood. ‘Adam Spark emerged out of a kind of chaos and panic that I couldn’t write another book.’ he says. ‘I‘d had a false start with a novel I was forced to junk after 30,000 words because it wasn‘t good enough. Then the next novel I tried to write. about a teenage boy having an affair with his aunt. didn‘t work either. There was a sister character hovering in the background whose dynamic with him was so much more convincing than the one he had with his aunt. so I just dropped her completely and focused on the brother-sister conflict. They became Adam and Judy Spark and. hey presto. I had the central relationship of the whole book.’
In the novel. 19-year-old Spark is obsessed with Queen and superheroes and has an uncanny predilection for getting into scrapes. His world is
blown apart, when he finds himself armed with amazing powers. Not only can he speed up and slow down time. but everyone he encounters is surrounded by a strange coloured light. As if this wasn’t bamboozling enough, Spark’s devoted sister Jude is giving most of her attention to another woman.
While the premise of Bissett’s novel is an amusing pastiche of comic book fantasy. there are moments of real darkness in his tale, particularly surrounding Adam’s struggle to deal with his sister’s new found love affair. Bissett’s memorable narrator-protagonist is forced to make a moral choice between ‘good’ (letting Jude go) and ‘evil’ (his increasingly desperate attempts to wreck her relationship). The author also uses Spark‘s vague memories of his dead parents’ tempestuous relationship and his interaction with his manipulative mates to further explore heroism.
With a TV adaptation of Adam Spark in the works. Bissett is currently being kept busy with the screenplay as well as his work as a tutor on Glasgow University’s Creative Writing MPhil. He is, however. making time to work on that even more difficult third novel which, he says, will contain a few surprises. ‘The third novel is completely different from the other two. It’s my first female (and middle-aged, and middle-class) protagonist, the first time I’ve used a third-person narrator, and the first time I’ve managed a standard English voice. I’m really trying to reinvent what you’d expect from one of my novels.’
The Incredible Adam Spark is out now, published by Headline.
Books
Events
Events are listed by date, then city. Submit listings at least ten days before publication to iules.graham@list.co.uk. Listings are compiled by Jules Graham.
I Lin Anderson The Greenock-born author reads from Dead/y Code, her third grisly crime novel featuring forensic scientist Rhona MacLeod. Ottakar's Bookstore, Unit 6, Buchanan Galleries, Buchanan Street, Glasgow, 353 7500. Thu 25 Aug, 6.30pm. Free, ticketed.
I Alan Bissett The promising Scottish author chats about his second novel. See preview, left. Waterstone's, 753— 757 Sauchieha/l Street, Glasgow, 332 9705. Thu 25 Aug, 6.30pm. Free.
I Joanne Harris The Choco/at scribe (pictured) picks her favourite poems from the Scottish Poetry Library’s handsomely stocked shelves. There will be sweet treats courtesy of Plaisir du Chocolat. Scottish Poetry Library, 5 Crichton '3 Close, Canongate, Edinburgh, 557 2876. Thu 25 Aug, 4pm. £5 (£3). I Jaan Kaplinskl One of Europe's principal poets with a joyoust eclectic selection of his favourite poems. Scottish Poetry Library, 5 Crichton '3 Close, Canongate, Edinburgh, 55 7 2876. Sat 27 Aug, 12.45pm. £5 (£3).
I Shore Poets Autumn Preview A taster of all the poetic fun and games to be had over the coming year (hopefully including their famous lemon cake too), with guest reader Jen Hadfield. Scottish Poetry Library, 5 Crichton '3 Close, Canongate, Edinburgh, 55 7 2876. Sun 28 Aug, 7.45pm. £2.
I Julia Donaldson a Axel Schetfler In Edinburgh, the Gruffalo creators read from and sign copies of their brand new title Charlie Cook’s Favourite Book. There’ll be Gruffalo mask making and Charlie Cook colouring fun while Julia D makes the venture west on her tod. Waterstone’s, 728 Princes Street, Edinburgh, 226 2666. Tue 6 Sep, 4pm. Free; Borders Books, 98 Buchanan Street, Glasgow, 222 7700. Wed 7 Sep, 70.30am. Free.
25 Aug—8 Sep 2005 THE LIST 15