Ride On (36 page)
Despite what you may have heard, writing a novel isn't all about sitting around in your underpants and shutting out the world as you dig repeatedly down into yourself to nose out fragrant truffles of literary brilliance. That was the drink talking. And I'm sorry for what I said about your bird too â it was probably just the way she was standing.
Anyway, I owe the following people a big bowl of jelly and ice cream for helping me out with Ride On ⦠Jonie Hell, Mick O'Gorman, Shane Harmon (legend), Rebecca Prince, Andy Plester, Miles Essex, Villads Spangsberg, Alan Baxter, Kevin English, Rob Wrixon, Joe Burke, Damien Murphy, Neil Clarke and Declan Burke. Also, Johnny O'Reilly, John Tierney and Will Murray for reminding me what it's like to be young and mad â cheers lads ⦠always a pleasure.
It's about time that Dave âKitty' Barry got a special mention all for himself. He knows why ⦠I'll say no more.
Colm Ã'Snodaigh from the band KÃla was an enormous help and I'd like to thank him and the rest of the band for allowing me to have a laugh with their fictional doppelgängers in the book. MÃle buÃochas!
Every book needs a shower, a shave and the rub of a cotton bud or two before being let out into polite society. Joe Burke, Brian Dolan, Ruth Kelly, Fiona Lodge and Stewart Ward were on hand â again â to help me perform the necessary ablutions. And it wasn't like they didn't have enough to be doing!
It takes a unique blend of talents to edit a book so that everyone wins, and my editor, Isobel Creed, has them all in abundance. Many thanks to Isobel and Mercier Press for helping Ride On out of my head and into your hands.
And, always, thanks and love to Ruth, without whom there'd be no Jimmy, no Aesop, no Grove, no Sparky, no Shiggy, no Norman, no Peggy, no gigs, no Caillte, no laughs ⦠no nuthin' â¦
SJM
Hong Kong, 2007.
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Mercier Press, Unit 3b, Oak House, Bessboro Rd, Blackrock, Cork, Ireland
Stephen J. Martin was born and raised in Dublin, spent most of the last ten years in Tokyo and now lives in Sydney. Steve has acted and directed for the stage, been the lead singer in a successful rock band in Tokyo and also designs computer systems for investment banks. His first novel was the hugely successful Superchick.
9781856354646
âAll women are bastards â¦' Jimmy Collins, competent middle manager by day, suburban rockstar by night, has just been dumped and he's not taking it very well. Even a visit to his stylist can't cheer him up.
He decides to take control of the situation, convincing his friends to help him find the perfect girl â beautiful (but loyal), smart (but not too smart), confident (without being a feminist), an expert bun-maker; who's indifferent about shopping, enthusiastic about Star Trek and scornful of self-help books.
9781856355940
âWhat is a chance at your dream worth?' Being a rock star was all Jimmy ever wanted, but it was supposed to happen when he was seventeen, not in his thirties. Jimmy had spent the best part of twenty years building a career. He studied, he got a great job and he had worked hard at it. He was being groomed for stardom all right, but his stage was to be in a boardroom, not a beer-soaked and panty-strewn concert hall.
Now it's coming to the crunch. While the band are wondering why his phone keeps ringing at rehearsals, his boss in work is wondering why he keeps coming into the office with bags under his eyes.
Jimmy is starting to crack under the pressure. He's even started to call round to his Mam for chats in the evenings. The doctor is telling him to take a holiday â Greece, maybe? â but his boss and his manager have other ideas. Jimmy's going away all right, but he's going a lot further than Greece â¦