HP Tinker (born 24 May 1969) is a Manchester-based short story writer of comic avant garde fiction. In 2007, '' Time Out'' called him an "unsung comic genius" and he has been referred to as "the
Thomas Pynchon
Thomas Ruggles Pynchon Jr. ( , ; born May 8, 1937) is an American novelist noted for his dense and complex novels. His fiction and non-fiction writings encompass a vast array of subject matter, genres and themes, including history, music, scie ...
of
Chorlton-cum-Hardy
Chorlton-cum-Hardy is a suburban area of Manchester, England, southwest of the city centre. Chorlton ward had a population of 14,138 at the 2011 census, and Chorlton Park 15,147.
By the 9th century, there was an Anglo-Saxon settlement her ...
".
Initially championed by
Martin Bax
Martin Bax is a British consultant paediatrician, who, in addition to his medical career, founded the Arts magazine '' Ambit'' in 1959. He lives in London. Since he created it, ''Ambit'' has published poetry, prose and artwork from the likes of Fl ...
Nicholas Royle
Nicholas Royle (born 20 March 1963 in Manchester) is an English novelist, editor, publisher, literary reviewer and creative writing lecturer.
Literary career
Author
Royle has written seven novels: ''Counterparts'', ''Saxophone Dreams'', ''The Mat ...
and '' 3:AM Magazines Andrew Gallix, he was considered a central member of the short-lived Offbeat generation
His collection of short fiction, ''The Swank Bisexual Wine Bar of Modernity'' (2007), became an instant underground classic on its release and earned Tinker cult author status. "If HP Tinker didn't exist, you'd have to make him up... he is as influenced as much by
Woody Allen
Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...
William Burroughs
William Seward Burroughs II (; February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American writer and visual artist, widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodern author who influenced popular cultur ...
and Joe Orton. As one of the brave ones — and one of Britain's most shameless writers — HP Tinker has been peddling his own brand of surrealism for years now, in stories littered with pop cultural references where you are likely to meet
Dorothy Parker
Dorothy Parker (née Rothschild; August 22, 1893 – June 7, 1967) was an American poet, writer, critic, and satirist based in New York; she was known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th-century urban foibles.
From a conflicted and unhap ...
,
Tom Paulin
Thomas Neilson Paulin (born 25 January 1949 in Leeds, England) is a Northern Irish poet and critic of film, music and literature. He lives in England, where he was the G. M. Young Lecturer in English Literature at Hertford College, Oxford.
Earl ...
,
Paul Gauguin
Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...
as you are Dean Martin and Morrissey." (''Dogmatika'' websit
''The Times'' has praised his "hilarious deadpan surrealism", ''The Independent'' thought him "unusual, arresting, smart and very funny" and ''The Guardian'' remarked that he "fizzes with the kind of zany, surreal conjunctions that recall Barthelme and Pynchon in their prime."
In 2010 HP Tinker appeared in the 200th edition of '' Ambit'' magazine alongside Peter Blake (artist), Sir Peter Blake and Jonathan Lethem.
His story "Alice In Time & Space and Various Major Cities" was included in ''Best British Short Stories 2012''.
Author
Lee Rourke
Lee Rourke (born 1972) is an English writer and literary critic. His books include the short story collection ''Everyday'', the novels ''The Canal'' (winner of '' The Guardian’s'' Not The Booker Prize in 2010), ''Vulgar Things'', and ''Glitch ...
devoted a chapter to HP Tinker in ''A Brief History of Fables'', describing his work as “a grand symphony of intertextuality, tomfoolery and theoretical intent”.
A second collection of short stories, ''The Girl Who Ate New York'', was published in 2015. In his review, the novelist David Rose commented, " John Ashbery described the late
Lee Harwood
Lee Harwood (6 June 1939 – 26 July 2015) was a poet associated with the British Poetry Revival.
Life
Travers Rafe Lee Harwood was born in Leicester to maths teacher Wilfred Travers Lee-Harwood and Grace Ladkin Harwood, who were then living ...
as Britain’s best-kept secret; H.P. Tinker is another, even better-kept secret" and called the book "one of the wittiest, most allusive and elusive collections I have read in years."
Works
Fiction
''The Swank Bisexual Wine Bar of Modernity'' (Social Disease, 2007)
''The Girl Who Ate New York'' (East London Press, 2015)
''Le détective'' (Nightjar Press, 2019)
Anthologies
''Dreams Never End'' (Tindal St Press, 2004)
''The Edgier Waters: Five Years of 3:AM'' (Snow Books, 2006)
''Expletive Deleted'' (Bleak House Books, 2007)
''The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime'' (Robinson Publishing, 2009)
''Bloody Vampires'' (Glasshouse Books, 2010)
''Best British Short Stories'' (Salt, 2012)
''We'll Never Have Paris'' (Repeater Books, 2019)