LONDON, Sept 22 — John Niven is preparing a sequel to his cult-favourite debut novel Kill Your Friends that revisits the Britpop-era protagonist Steven Stelfox in the time of Trump and Brexit.
Next year will mark 10 years since Kill Your Friends was published. The debut novel of Scottish author John Niven, who has since gone on to write several other novels, it focused on Steven Stelfox, an A&R agent at a record company in 1997 London, at the height of the Britpop scene.
Fuelled by greed, ambition and drugs, Stelfox goes to murderous lengths to salvage his career in a changing music industry in the dark, satirical novel.
In 2015, Kill Your Friends was adapted into a feature film starring Nicholas Hoult.
Now, on its 10th anniversary, the book will get a sequel in Kill ‘Em All, in which Stelfox, now 46, is a music industry consultant with a headache on his hands in the form of pop star, junkie and paedophile Lucius Du Pre.
Niven says of the sequel: “I liked the symmetry of setting the sequel in 2017 — exactly 20 years after setting of the first book. It also occurred to me that today, the world of Trump and Brexit, was the perfect moment to bring Steven Stelfox back. It is his time now. The time of populism. Of the lowest common denominator. Of the Big Lie. And he is loving it.”
Kill ‘Em All is slated to be published in autumn 2018. — AFP-Relaxnews
