Book about Talk Radio/the Human Zoo/Tommy Boyd

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Creature
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Book about Talk Radio/the Human Zoo/Tommy Boyd

Post by Creature »

Hi guys, I published a novel about the Human Zoo/Talk Radio.

Image

Here's the synopsis:

"Samuel sat on the toilet and began interviewing himself."

A teenage boy is in love with a girl and the radio. Set in England during the 1990s, the novel tells a story about dealing with adolescence and life, including the 'lunatic fringe' and 'lonely, upset, frightened and confused people' who call up radio stations around the country.

The calls detailed in the novel are based on real calls to radio stations the author heard.

‘To the Asylum' refers to the reply Guglielmo Marconi, the inventor of radio, received from the Italian government, upon the request for funding his experiments into radio transmissions


Here's an extract:

Samuel was in the habit of listening to the radio in bed too. One evening, a one-line regular caller managed to get through to the switchboard about eleven. Samuel had just got under the duvet. He was lying on his stomach, elbows propping up his torso, earphones in. The presenter, Mark Williams, said into the mic, “Good evening caller, what’s on your mind?”
It happened so fast. It’s not easy to dissect this. The Big Bang was slower. The Big Bang dilly-dallied. But it felt as if this call, on this particular night, providence had pre-determined it. From that very first phase fourteen billion years ago, as space-time expanded, the first particles emerged, the quark-gluon plasma cooled, the emergence of large structures, stars, galaxies, superclusters, the cosmic-evolution, the Ur supercontinent, Pangea, the ancestral gene pool, Coronacollina, the Paleocene epoch, humankind, the pyramids, Excalibur, Genghis Khan, Columbus, Shakespeare, Halley’s comet, David Schwimmer, karaoke – it all led up to this moment, this moment in time, as the universe was collapsing in on itself, as the Sun was slowly expanding, as weather patterns caused environmentalists to panic...at this moment in time, the caller uttered:

Can I pleasure your wife?

The caller hung up. Silence followed. And the silence was long.


Here's a review:

A surreal '' Jonathan Coe ,Rotters Club '' style journey of schoolboy adolescence intertwined with the growing up in the background of a love and fascination into the weird , wonderful but sometimes disturbing world of 1990's UK Talk Radio stations...the pure essence of the Human Zoo lives on in the pages of this book.A must read for all fans of '' conversational '' Talk Radio.

Another:

Gorgeous and funny

There are some disturbing people out there calling radio stations. This is the backdrop to a story about a teenage crush and dealing with the trials and tribulations of school.

Anyone brought up in the 90s will appreciate this world of cassette tapes, Spice Girls and New Labour, with a sense of humor quintessentially English.


Here is where you can buy it. There's a Kindle version for 99p:



Duncan Barkes kindly helped and I sent him a copy, which he said he'd pass onto Tommy.

Thanks for any support. Peace.
Last edited by Creature on Thu Mar 30, 2017 3:27 am, edited 1 time in total.

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delboy1983
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Re: Book about the Human Zoo/Tommy Boyd

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Blatant advertising :!:
We're just two lost souls
Swimming in a fish bowl
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Basualdo
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Re: Book about the Human Zoo/Tommy Boyd

Post by Basualdo »

"Samuel sat on the toilet and began interviewing himself."
A new TF euphemism!

"Are you alright up there, Barry, youve been in that bog an awful long time?"
"Dont worry, love I'm just interviewing my nuts flat."
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Carlos J
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Re: Book about the Human Zoo/Tommy Boyd

Post by Carlos J »

Looks interesting though was never a fan of Boyd/Human Zoo.
Maybe she's born with it, maybe it's Maybelline.

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Lou Grant
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Re: Book about the Human Zoo/Tommy Boyd

Post by Lou Grant »

delboy1983 wrote:Blatant advertising :!:

No, a plug for something that genuinely looks interesting and would be of interest to those who have been around this forum from the start, back when stuff like The Human Zoo was a key reason for this place existing.
Come for the rampant misogyny, stay for the tedious bitching

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delboy1983
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Re: Book about the Human Zoo/Tommy Boyd

Post by delboy1983 »

Chris Twaddle!!
We're just two lost souls
Swimming in a fish bowl
Year after year

Creature
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Re: Book about the Human Zoo/Tommy Boyd

Post by Creature »

Lou Grant wrote:
delboy1983 wrote:Blatant advertising :!:

No, a plug for something that genuinely looks interesting and would be of interest to those who have been around this forum from the start, back when stuff like The Human Zoo was a key reason for this place existing.


Hey Lou, that's why I put it on here. I used to post on here years ago as Creatureofthenight, but couldn't access my old account! Cheers for your kind words.

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mark
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Re: Book about the Human Zoo/Tommy Boyd

Post by mark »

delboy1983 wrote:Blatant advertising :!:

And quite blatantly ok on here!! :D

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delboy1983
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Re: Book about the Human Zoo/Tommy Boyd

Post by delboy1983 »

mark wrote:
delboy1983 wrote:Blatant advertising :!:

And quite blatantly ok on here!! :D

Testing :P
We're just two lost souls
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carcinogen
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Re: Book about the Human Zoo/Tommy Boyd

Post by carcinogen »

Self-published?
“Ordinary men hate solitude. But the Master makes use of it, embracing his aloneness, realizing he is one with the whole universe.” ~ Lao Tzu.

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Creature
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Re: Book about the Human Zoo/Tommy Boyd

Post by Creature »

carcinogen wrote:Self-published?


With the help of Createspace Independent Publishing.

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Lord Notin Kwestion
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Re: Book about the Human Zoo/Tommy Boyd

Post by Lord Notin Kwestion »

Creature wrote:
carcinogen wrote:Self-published?


With the help of Createspace Independent Publishing.


Self published.
Imagine a vaccine so safe you have to blackmailed into taking it, for a virus so deadly you have to be tested to know if you have it.

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KeithArthur
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Re: Book about Talk Radio/the Human Zoo/Tommy Boyd

Post by KeithArthur »

You love Mikes Dickin
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carcinogen
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Re: Book about the Human Zoo/Tommy Boyd

Post by carcinogen »

Creature wrote:
carcinogen wrote:Self-published?


With the help of Createspace Independent Publishing.


Cool. What was the editing process like?
“Ordinary men hate solitude. But the Master makes use of it, embracing his aloneness, realizing he is one with the whole universe.” ~ Lao Tzu.

"The world needs bad men. We keep the other bad men from the door". ~ RC, True Detective.

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Debut
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Re: Book about Talk Radio/the Human Zoo/Tommy Boyd

Post by Debut »

This sounds great thanks

Old veteran of Talk Radio / TalkFORUM

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