- Jubilee offer: spend £10 or more on any product sold by Amazon.co.uk on or before June 6 and you can buy The Diamond Jubilee A Classical Celebration Album for just £2.50 Here's how (terms and conditions apply)
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Special Offers and Product Promotions
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
MEAT is a dystopian horror fable about the evils of factory farming and slaughter.
Richard Shanti, a guilt-ridden slaughterhouse worker, has serious misgivings about his job. He's known as the Ice Pick: the calmest, most efficient bolt-gunner in Abyrne s history. Yet, in secret, he and his family are vegetarian. If the authorities find out, he ll be tried and slaughtered for sacrilege along with the Chosen Abyrne's livestock.
MEAT is a tale of human depravity set in a grim post-cataclysmic England. Abyrne's townsfolk need meat to survive. Their religion promotes flesh-eating, their economy depends on it. Abyrne s ruling powers are the atheist Meat Baron, Rory Magnus, and the hyper-religious Parsons of the Welfare, headed by the Grand Bishop. The two factions despise each other but cannot maintain control without cooperating.
In the derelict quarter the heretical messiah, John Collins, is preaching a blasphemous new doctrine: Meat isn't necessary for survival. The townsfolk are listening. The tale begins as Abyrne faces its greatest conflict war between the Meat Baron and the Welfare.
Meanwhile, the townsfolk are hungry. The townsfolk must be fed...
Just a little of the praise MEAT has received:
''Joseph D'Lacey rocks!'' - Stephen King
''Atmospheric and chilling... an irresistibly intense debut novel with the potential to become a controversial horror classic.'' - Dru Pagliasotti, The Harrow
''Meat is a damning and workmanlike commentary on the human race s ceaseless appetite for meat...an undeniably powerful read.'' - Mathew Riley, Bookgeeks
''Meat is horror, gruesome, and it has a message...compelling reading, and it will haunt me forever.'' - Geoff Nelder, Café Doom
''People are going to discover that ''Meat'' is not just a speculative fiction novel with an underlying social statement, but that ''Meat'' is actually an important book and it should be required high school reading.'' - Timothy Deal, Shroud Magazine
''Brutal and tender...so much more than a horror novel...highly accomplished.'' - Stanley Riiks, Morpheus Tales
Richard Shanti, a guilt-ridden slaughterhouse worker, has serious misgivings about his job. He's known as the Ice Pick: the calmest, most efficient bolt-gunner in Abyrne s history. Yet, in secret, he and his family are vegetarian. If the authorities find out, he ll be tried and slaughtered for sacrilege along with the Chosen Abyrne's livestock.
MEAT is a tale of human depravity set in a grim post-cataclysmic England. Abyrne's townsfolk need meat to survive. Their religion promotes flesh-eating, their economy depends on it. Abyrne s ruling powers are the atheist Meat Baron, Rory Magnus, and the hyper-religious Parsons of the Welfare, headed by the Grand Bishop. The two factions despise each other but cannot maintain control without cooperating.
In the derelict quarter the heretical messiah, John Collins, is preaching a blasphemous new doctrine: Meat isn't necessary for survival. The townsfolk are listening. The tale begins as Abyrne faces its greatest conflict war between the Meat Baron and the Welfare.
Meanwhile, the townsfolk are hungry. The townsfolk must be fed...
Just a little of the praise MEAT has received:
''Joseph D'Lacey rocks!'' - Stephen King
''Atmospheric and chilling... an irresistibly intense debut novel with the potential to become a controversial horror classic.'' - Dru Pagliasotti, The Harrow
''Meat is a damning and workmanlike commentary on the human race s ceaseless appetite for meat...an undeniably powerful read.'' - Mathew Riley, Bookgeeks
''Meat is horror, gruesome, and it has a message...compelling reading, and it will haunt me forever.'' - Geoff Nelder, Café Doom
''People are going to discover that ''Meat'' is not just a speculative fiction novel with an underlying social statement, but that ''Meat'' is actually an important book and it should be required high school reading.'' - Timothy Deal, Shroud Magazine
''Brutal and tender...so much more than a horror novel...highly accomplished.'' - Stanley Riiks, Morpheus Tales
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A compelling and compulsive read which although chilling in subject matter, as the title might suggest also works on a number of thought provoking levels. The reader is drawn into a fantastical World by a fast flowing narrative, laced with what must be some hard hitting research making the subject matter less like fantasy and there by all the more chilling. I look forward to the author's next work as this is an excellent first.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Ok, most will guess the probable source of the Meat before opening the cover. Don't be so sure. It's a great descriptive, disturbing, enticing (educational even) journey via a parallel, that gathers pace bringing everything together to a powerful, emotional and unpredictable conclusion that makes your mind roll for days after.
I'm not sure how the film would work, the Author's clever hints to keep you guessing might need some clever cinematic editing, but then the same could have been said about some of Steven King's classics that were even more disturbing visually...which I'm sure Meat would be.
Without spoiling anything for would-be readers, I hope the film develops the story of two young boys from the start so we know why they do what they do and root for them as the heros throughout the film, knowing that they are different... I now want to read the book again because of this, but that's not a bad thing. Enjoy the book, it's a real page-turner and one that leaves you with that 'disappointed' feeling when all good books come to an end and you read the Afterword and even glare at the bar code savoring everything... just like the last mouthful of fillet steak in a restaurant as you ponder and thank the cow that lived a happy life and died naturally allowing such a meal!
Buy it new... the author gets nothing from a nearly new purchase!
I'm not sure how the film would work, the Author's clever hints to keep you guessing might need some clever cinematic editing, but then the same could have been said about some of Steven King's classics that were even more disturbing visually...which I'm sure Meat would be.
Without spoiling anything for would-be readers, I hope the film develops the story of two young boys from the start so we know why they do what they do and root for them as the heros throughout the film, knowing that they are different... I now want to read the book again because of this, but that's not a bad thing. Enjoy the book, it's a real page-turner and one that leaves you with that 'disappointed' feeling when all good books come to an end and you read the Afterword and even glare at the bar code savoring everything... just like the last mouthful of fillet steak in a restaurant as you ponder and thank the cow that lived a happy life and died naturally allowing such a meal!
Buy it new... the author gets nothing from a nearly new purchase!
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book isn't for the timid, and if you are, take your Gaviscon before settling down to read one of the few books that might change your life. To a vegetarian, the title might put you off; if you eat meat, you may be afraid of being lectured. Neither is the case. I'm vegan and didn't think anything about slaughterhouses or animal empathy could shock me, but I am dazed. Meat doesn't set out with a philosophical agenda, it is a great story, with plenty of action, characters, a post-apocalyptic setting and several threads. I'm not going to summarise the plot. It's enough to say that Harry Harrison's novel, which became the cult film, Soylent Green is for pussy cats compared to Meat.
I confess that I didn't initially like the short sections as the story unfolded from the point-of-view of several main characters, but with the pace so rapidly page-turning it isn't a serious complaint. Indeed, there are some fine literary moments inside the narrative. D'Lacey cleverly forces characters to not just step back to contemplate their actions and consequences, but to somehow reach inside, and then outside their psyche in a way I've not met in other novels. For example, speaking of that elusive spark in someone's eyes, but then when they die: `how could you not wonder where that light went?'
I hate Joseph D'Lacey because he's created phrases I'd wish I'd written. For example, we've all been to a works' dance where: `The music had a stretched, laboured sound to it, but it made the workers jump and twitch nevertheless.' He has a gift for inverting concepts that is envious. Savour this example:
`She stopped moving and listened hard. The silence was alive: like someone downstairs was listening for her, not the other way around.'
I am impressed that the end isn't easy to predict even though there is no plot dependency on a twist. Let's say that in my animal activist days, I nearly achieved in practice on the odd livestock farm, and still dream about what this book achieves with a whole futuristic town. This gutsy ambush is delivered cleverly, but not without gallons of gory blood, sometimes friendly blood.
Meat is horror, gruesome, and it has a message, whether or not you accept it. It is compelling reading, and it will haunt me forever.
I confess that I didn't initially like the short sections as the story unfolded from the point-of-view of several main characters, but with the pace so rapidly page-turning it isn't a serious complaint. Indeed, there are some fine literary moments inside the narrative. D'Lacey cleverly forces characters to not just step back to contemplate their actions and consequences, but to somehow reach inside, and then outside their psyche in a way I've not met in other novels. For example, speaking of that elusive spark in someone's eyes, but then when they die: `how could you not wonder where that light went?'
I hate Joseph D'Lacey because he's created phrases I'd wish I'd written. For example, we've all been to a works' dance where: `The music had a stretched, laboured sound to it, but it made the workers jump and twitch nevertheless.' He has a gift for inverting concepts that is envious. Savour this example:
`She stopped moving and listened hard. The silence was alive: like someone downstairs was listening for her, not the other way around.'
I am impressed that the end isn't easy to predict even though there is no plot dependency on a twist. Let's say that in my animal activist days, I nearly achieved in practice on the odd livestock farm, and still dream about what this book achieves with a whole futuristic town. This gutsy ambush is delivered cleverly, but not without gallons of gory blood, sometimes friendly blood.
Meat is horror, gruesome, and it has a message, whether or not you accept it. It is compelling reading, and it will haunt me forever.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
One meaty horror story to get your teeth into
Meat is a brilliantly written and structured story. The dystopian setting, although not quite as extreme as Orwell's 1984, where meat is the new currency and social standing is a... Read more
Published 1 month ago by jason crawford
MEAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I loved meat. How can something so wrong smell so right ?
I'll now be trying to survive on God's light and a series of rigorous exercises every dawn.
I'll now be trying to survive on God's light and a series of rigorous exercises every dawn.
Published 2 months ago by Brian Burger
They must be fed...
Abyrne is a decaying town, trapped by an advancing wilderness. Its people depend on meat for their survival. Meat supplied by the processing plant on the edge of town. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Pablo Cheesecake (The Eloquent Page)
I'll have mine rare...No,on second thoughts I'll have a salad.
Some have called it a dystopian view of the future or maybe some kind of parallel universe, either way this book is disturbingly close to our reality and mentality. Read more
Published 7 months ago by vi
Excellent and Macabre
A powerful and surprising book, with some gory details, and an unusual setting.
It had been said the scene is England, for some reason Australia came to mind.
It had been said the scene is England, for some reason Australia came to mind.
Published 12 months ago by Troy Beal
Even Stephen King loves MEAT!
...And I can see why. Of the 19 book and film reviews I've got on Amazon, this will only be the 3rd I've given 5 stars to. Read more
Published 12 months ago by PoleCatEddy
Thrilling Social commentary
Meat was Joseph D'Lacey's first novel initially released in 2008. Followed up by the excellent second novel, Garbage Man and the stunning novella, The Kill Crew in 2009. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Colin Leslie
Not a bad book but could have been better
This is the first Joeseph D'lacy book that I have ever read and it is quite an impressive book. The story itself give you a kind of unsettling feeling to read but is in no way... Read more
Published on 16 May 2010 by Xux
Finger lickin' good
Ever wondered about that burger you're eating? Or that bacon butty you had for breakfast? Ever thought about the chicken in your chicken tikka? Read more
Published on 15 April 2010 by seun
Boring
My last review has not appeared so ill keep this brief!
I found this book boring - very predictable, the people in the story dull and lifeless. Read more
I found this book boring - very predictable, the people in the story dull and lifeless. Read more
Published on 13 Sep 2009 by Stuart Woodruff
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
