Break it Down

BREAK IT DOWN is part of a larger project called MONKEY WILLIAMS (which includes two novels, bridged by a podcast series, and a collection of short stories). The entire project will be serialized and published by Picador UK online in 2020, and then published as a series of hardback publications). The material will be released in increments, as a serial, from February 20, 2020.

While the submission is presented here as one multi-threaded narrative, the primary iteration of this novel will be as separate, inter-linked, narratives. A reader will be able to read (and watch and listen to) sections either as stand-alone elements, or as part of an entire narrative. Strands can be read chronologically (as events happen over time), or by character, or by incident, or by location. This is a creative work (c170,000 words) charting the development of a social/protest movement which follows drug development and testing.

RESEARCH: has been undertaken in the US, Colombia, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Laos from 2012-2019.

DOUBLE WEIGHTING: As a longer form output (161,272 words), looking at the development of socially active / political groups and movements (principally in the US) from 1960-2000. The novel also looks at the development and testing of pharmaceutical products by large-scale industries, and their social impact on small, usually rural and usually poor, communities.