Friday, May 20, 2011

Aggressive, complicated, sharp as a diamond.

sahb4 by simonhenry700
sahb4, a photo by simonhenry700 on Flickr.

Julie loved Tubby and he showed her the sort of vulgar respect he reserved for his favourites. She was fascinated by his books and toy soldiers. He'd read all the books and enjoyed the soldiers, but he had no proprietal feelings towards them. He'd brought both collections from Alex Harvey. They had identical tastes, he said, and Alex got bored with it all, needed some money and sold it for its market price.
He was a classic mixture, Alex. Aggressive, complicated, sharp as a diamond, Glaswegian. Dead now. What can you say? We were trying out some work together just before died. His Jacques Brel stuff, which he growled in a kind of Mississippi Clydeside, never sounded more sardonic, and he could shout out a blues with the best. Another Star Club vet.
Not always an easy man to work with, Alex had read more books than the British Librarian.

-Michael Moorcock, 'King of the City,' page 73 (2000)

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