In 1980, while working in a warehouse, Lane Courtney takes stock in the family myth that he is a direct descendant of Reginald Fitz Urse, one of the knights who martyred Saint Becket in 1170. His laconic, autobiographical reflections are interwoven with numerous misadventures as he hangs out at the Hotel Isabella and the Warwick’s infamous strip lounge, associating with angry prostitutes, errant bikers and speed freaks.
Whether he is getting high on crystal meth, getting sick on the subway tracks, causing a scene in the lobby of a mental hospital, or being chased down by a woman with a broken bottle, Courtney is going nowhere. A romantic relationship with a volatile stripper that becomes increasingly complicated once she becomes pregnant only adds to the chaos of his life.
Courtney later heads west where both his lack of direction and the fame that rewards those who kill the famous come into clear focus with the murder of John Lennon. Cultivating the insane idea of shooting President Reagan to uphold the family name, he makes ready to head for Washington D.C., but before he arrives this last-ditch effort at success is derailed by historical events he could not have foreseen.
It is with great sadness that we announce the unexpected passing of Trevor Clark on April 4, 2019. Trevor was not only a capable and courageous writer, but a fascinating person. As a writer, he was seemingly from another, more classical time, and didn't really fit into the strict definitions of what is supposed to define one today. That is one reason why we chose to publish so many of his books. His characters were always very real and very raw, and one didn't have to ponder very long the question of how much of himself Trevor injected into them. It was our pleasure (and, we felt, something of our duty), to present his writing to the world. With so much in letters being driven by political correctness these days and the need at whatever cost to not offend, his writing stood out boldly, as much the hammer as the nail. We loved him for that; he was unabashedly exactly who he presented himself as, and that will always have value in this world, no matter the direction the political or cultural winds are blowing at the time.
Among other things, Trevor Clark worked as an oilrig roughneck, editor, portrait photographer, bookstore manager, and home entertainment coordinator for a TV movie production company in London, where he lived for a number of years. He was the author of numerous works of fiction including Damaged at Daybreak, Hair-Trigger, Dragging the River, Love on the Killing Floor and Escape and other Stories, and his photographs appeared in Designs of Darkness: Interviews With Detective Novelists, (Bowling Green University Popular Press,) and Interviews With Contemporary Novelists (Macmillan/ St. Martin’s Press,) both by Diana Cooper-Clark, as well as Ross Macdonald: A Biography, by Tom Nolan, (Scribner’s,) NOW, and the Globe And Mail. He last resided in Montreal.
Trevor's last work of fiction, Seven Floors Down, is now available in bookstores and online.
