Derek Raymond

The next column is on cult crime novelist Derek Raymond's first 'Factory' novel He Died With His Eyes Open (1984). Serpent's Tail, bless 'em, are bringing out all of the 'Factory' novels this year in new editions. Derek Raymond was a pornographer, smuggler, gun-runner and lapsed gent whose stylistic innovations and hardbitten style created a new 'British' noir that you can still see in the work of novelists like David Peace. His novels take place in the unpleasant bits of London you generally never hear about - Lewisham, Battersea, Catford, Hanger Lane. The books are gritty and unpleasant, but satisfyingly so - they show a world you know is there but were trying hard to ignore...