R.I.P Robert G. Barrett

Rest In Peace Les Norton :good


Author Robert G. Barrett was perhaps an anti-literary hero. According to Linda Funnell, his editor at HarperCollins for 10 years, he connected to ''people who didn't necessarily consider themselves book readers''. Even within the ever-popular world of Australian crime fiction, his books were remarkably light and unpretentious, focused on entertainment over profundity.

Over 27 years, he sold more than 1 million books - an impressive number, as practically all of his sales were domestic - and The Australian dubbed him ''the king of popular fiction''. He nicknamed himself ''Barbara'', saying that he was an Australian version of another unashamedly successful writer, British romance novelist Barbara Cartland.

''Bob didn't have much time for the literary establishment and the feeling was mutual,'' wrote Funnell in a recent tribute. Well-known as a stirrer, he would appear at writers' festivals (reluctantly) with a stripper under each arm, or wearing a Helen Demidenko T-shirt soon after the young author and poseur had left the literati red-faced.

Barrett, who was born on November 14, 1942, had a difficult relationship with his parents. He attended Bondi Beach Public School and Randwick Boys High but left school at 14. For the next few years, he worked as a bouncer, a janitor and a butcher.

In 1980, he was injured at a meatworks by a falling carcass of meat, placing him on workers' compensation. As part of his rehabilitation, he enrolled in creative writing courses at the Workers' Education Association. Before long, he was publishing short stories for Australian Penthouse magazine.

One of them, A Hard Man, introduced Les Norton, a meatworker who flees the Queensland town of Dirranbandi after killing a man and moves to Sydney - complete with his ute, RM Williams and moleskin trousers - to become a bouncer at the Kelly Club in Kings Cross, fighting criminals in his spare time.

Norton became the hero of more than 20 books, beginning with You Wouldn't Be Dead for Quids in 1984. They were violent, seedy but undeniably humorous books, mostly set in Sydney. In some cases, such as High Noon in Nimbin and the Surfers Paradise-set White Shoes, White Lines and Blackie, he took the hero further afield.

Author and hero were not the same but had a few things in common - their previous jobs, their opinions and their reputations as larrikin, no-nonsense Aussies. Barrett would promote each book with very unorthodox tours, driving through country towns. ''It was like a road trip,'' said Shona Martyn, publishing director at HarperCollins. ''He'd be doing research all the way.''

It certainly seemed to work. Barrett eventually had a devoted cult following. In each town, a group of his fans, dubbed the ''Norton army'', greeted him with official T-shirts. He would sign books and T-shirts and, in one case, a possum (housed in a woman's shirt in Lismore).

His books also won a large following within the Defence Force and - his greatest pride - he was the most borrowed author in NSW prison libraries.

It was not exactly instant fame. In 1987, with three books published, he was working as a kitchen hand and was kept afloat by writing a weekly column for People magazine.

''He talked from the heart and wasn't a fake,'' Martyn said. His willingness to speak his mind won him many admirers but also resulted in him being labelled as sexist, racist and homophobic. He described Sydney's Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras as an ''asinine assemblage of arseholes'' and said that ''if you're a white Australian male, you've got to flagellate yourself with the worry beads for the Aborigines, for the Muslims, for the whatever''.

He was equally candid when diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2008, updating readers about his health in the introductions to his subsequent books.

Barrett was unmarried and has no immediate surviving family. However, the reaction to his illness and health proved that he had no shortage of friends.

''Barbara was one of the kindest and most considerate people I know,'' his long-time publicist, Mel Cain, said. ''Also one of the most entertaining, funny and dedicated. He loved a cause, hated being politically correct but took very seriously being a gentleman.''


[url]http://sl.farmonline.com.au/news/metro/national/general/larrikin-the-star-of-popular-fiction/2627064.aspx[/url]

 

Yeah, his first few books were his best but I still enjoyed reading his later ones. I always pictured Greg Florimo as Les Norton, not because Florimo was a beast but just in looks and build from the description of Les in the books, and I guess the rugby league connection too. A lot of the characters in his earlier books were based on real Kings Cross identities.

Yep, that was a strange one eh? Pretty depressing read to be honest, very brutal.