Skagboys
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| Author | Irvine Welsh |
|---|---|
| Country | Scotland |
| Language | English |
| Publisher |
Jonathan Cape (UK) W. W. Norton (US) |
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Publication date
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19 April 2012 (UK) 17 September 2012 (US) |
| Media type | |
| ISBN | |
| Preceded by | Porno |
Skagboys is a 2012 novel by Scottish writer Irvine Welsh. It is a prequel to his 1993 novel Trainspotting, and its 2002 sequel Porno. It follows the earlier lives of characters Renton and Sick Boy as they first descend into heroin addiction.
When Welsh described the novel he said: "I think I’m going to call it Skag Boys: “skag” is my favourite word for heroin. It’s set before they’re into heroin and investigates how the main characters become junkies, the family dynamics, the anxieties of young men. A lot of the fringe characters become more prominent." "I had a great deal of material that for various reasons, namely pace and because it didn't fit with the timeframe, wasn't suitable for the book. There's a particular section about Renton and Sick Boy's first visit to London to stay with their friend Nicksy in Hackney that I always wanted to publish, but it was just a bit too long for magazines and anthologies. So I've pulled back some of the other unused Trainspotting material and put alongside this piece. The thing is basically a prequel to Trainspotting. It's basically about how Renton and Sick Boy went from being daft young guys just out for the buzz on drugs, to total junkies. It shows how their attitudes and behaviour start to change as they become more defined by the drug and the culture around it."
In 2012, Welsh said the prequel was actually initially written as part of Trainspotting, but was not used in the published version. He later decided he would either erase his old work or use it in some way, as "he had a fear that he might fall under a bus and leave behind 'half-written stuff' which people would publish". He said, "I just went through it and started writing on the basis of what was there, getting inspired by what I was reading and chopping bits out and putting bits in. Before I knew it I had another novel on my hands."
Section 1: Tempted
In 1984, Mark Renton and his father Davie have travelled to Yorkshire to take part in a picket of the coke plant. After briefly meeting his London pal Nicksy, he gets caught up in the police-picket violence and, shaken, feels estranged from his father and the pickets and refuses to return to Glasgow. In the Banana flats, Sick Boy becomes determined to seduce Maria, the nubile daughter of his neighbours, and takes her father Coke to the local pub. However, they fall foul of violent, ex-cop pub landlord Dickson, and are expelled from the bar. Meanwhile, in Manchester, Mark meets Nicksy again and accompanies him to a party. He is offered heroin to chase, but rejects this in disgust.
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