| Skagboys | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Irvine Welsh |
| Country | Scotland |
| Language | English, Scots |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Publication date | April 2012 |
| Media type | |
| Preceded by | Porno |
Skagboys is the title of an upcoming novel by Scottish writer Irvine Welsh. It is a prequel to his 1993 novel Trainspotting, and its 2002 sequel Porno. It will follow the earlier lives of characters Renton and Sick Boy as they descend into heroin addiction.[1]
Welsh on the new novel:
| “ | 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.[2] | ” |
| “ | 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.[3] | ” |
| “ | The novel, which Welsh hopes to see on bookshop shelves by 2012, follows the fortunes of Trainspotting's main characters on their path to drug addiction, helped along the way by the same problems faced by many people in the 1980s.
Renton, who was played by Ewan McGregor in the hit movie of the book directed by Danny Boyle, cracks under the pressure of being the first person in his family to go to university and the conflict he has with his older brother. Irvine says: "There are also the relationships he gets into, he has a couple of girlfriends which don't turn out satisfactorily." The book also tells how Sickboy was spoiled by his Scots-Italian mother and sisters, leading to his need to scar, manipulate and control everyone he meets. And it follows Begbie's transformation from a young man who can handle himself up through the ranks of hardmen to become far more ruthless. It also tells how Spud suffers after losing his job as a removal man. Irvine explained: "Spud is just a guy who just wants to help people move. "He has no ambition and finds himself cast aside the way so many were at that time when manual work collapsed. That social fabric, where guys worked then went to the pub or home to watch telly, has never really been repaired." Unlike Trainspotting, Welsh pays more attention to the workings of drug dealing in Edinburgh in the 1980s. He believes that was when drugs truly took a hold of Scotland. He said: "Instead of just focusing on the characters being junkies chasing down heroin and all that, I have got more into the supply side of things and how it got a grip." [4] |
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