"5 stars! Sharply observed, keenly funny and thoroughly authentic, D J Cooper's assured debut novel arrives with a set of fully-formed characters populating a world most of us will be all too familiar with. Cooper drops us into a setting based on superficiality, looks, contacts and chemicals and then plots a course through it that reveals the depths among the shallows - and also the shallows among the shallows; it is the gays we're talking about after all.The result is a book simply crying out for a sequel. Hilarious, knowing, and occasionally arousing, Pride Before a Fall should be required reading on any syllabus at Gay Finishing School. More please!" Editor - 360 MagazineThis fictional pastiche of queer London draws on the author’s wealth of personal experience to chronicle and send up its obsessions with sex, drugs, online dating - oh, and musical theatre.'Pride Before a Fall' by D.J. Cooper's first novel, and draws on fertile ground - London's over-the-top gay clubbing scene, and the oh-so-often murky and secretive world of gay media.This debut novel has already taken the UK by storm - with Pride Before a Fall having already topped the gay and lesbian fiction best-seller list in the UK.Set against a backdrop of the shadowy goings-on at the queer equivalent of News Corp, 'Pride Before a Fall' is a very modern satire about trade, in all its forms. Just how far would you be prepared to go, and what would you do, to protect your career, company, friendships, relationships, reputation - or even your very existence?Stuck in a dead-end job, life is nothing more than a never-ending series of repetitive actions for Adam. But working at the mighty QueerDom media empire does have its upsides, such as free entry to London’s glittering clubbing scene and an open-door to the hedonistic queer capital of the world, no questions asked. With its myriad of parties and endless celebrations, there’s never any shortage of places to see, and be seen, partying the night (and the following day) away too. But being a small fish, in a small pond, can only mean one thing in this city; that the sharks are never far away, and they are about to go on a feeding frenzy.Lurching from one drug and drink-fuelled party to another isn’t exactly the most fertile ground for romance, but love can turn up at a moment’s notice, and in the most unexpected places. Listening to your heart isn’t easy at the best of times, especially when the soundtrack to your life is playing at an ear-splitting 50 decibels and a frenetic 120 beats per minute.But sometimes your heart can sell you out, and what you think you have fallen for (hook, line and sinker) is nothing more than imagination, and wishful thinking. When push comes to shove, and you eventually sober up, you have to pick a side to come down on and trust your instincts. Will you turn out to be a cynical old queen that never has a good word to say about anyone, or let it all roll on a feeling, a good feeling, a feeling that feels a lot like it could be, if you nurture it - love. "This 'Ram-Dram' romp through London's queer underbelly is a rip-roaring, roller-coaster of a ride that pulls no punches, and isn't taking any prisoners either." This is a story about fucking, being fucked over, whoring, pimping, drugs, addiction and death - oh, and of course there's also more than a sprinkling of musical theatre too darlings.
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