The Ice Boat: Boxed Set

The Abba-like cleanness of Stockholm was getting to him. He wanted to piss against a wall.

With plenty of drugs, sex and rock and roll; The Ice Boat is a modern pop-culture odyssey.

David Dee has almost got it; with a solicitor girlfriend, a job, a flat and a band in London, he almost has the happiness he has worked for all his life. His reluctance to compromise takes him away from London to disaster in Rio de Janeiro and on to surreal adventure and self-discovery in Amsterdam.

Includes Chapter One of both the occult thriller Ordo Lupus and the Temple Gate AND Too Bright the Sun.

Sample
A few days later Barbie told him the details about his meeting with the man for the passport. He was to go to a café, order a whisky and wait for a woman who would ask him for a light. He was to say, “I love you,” and she would reply, “I love you too.” He had to be there between eleven and twelve. He was to go alone. The ‘going alone’ bit worried him, especially as the bar was in an unfamiliar part of town but Barbie reassured him so he went.
He and the woman exchanged pass phrases and she told him to go to another bar a few blocks away, ask for an orange juice, and wait for a man. The man would say, “Aphrodisiac,” and he should say, “Only for monkeys.” He was amused by all this secrecy but understood its need and soon found himself talking to a neatly dressed business man with a suitcase, scarf and a silky-smooth voice.
“Hello. So what can I do for you?” He explained, and the man asked for the photograph which Barbie had told him to bring and half the money, 1300 Guilders, which he had also brought. Dave watched possessively when the money disappeared into the man’s pocket.
“Okay. This is no joke. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. The passport will be ready in two weeks’ time. You will have der rest of the money then?”
“No. Three weeks will be okay though.”
“Okay. Barbie will tell you where to go.”
“Thanks.”
“No problem. Order another drink, a pint, and drink it all slowly, before you leave.”
He got up and left.
Dave ordered the drink, drank it and went home nervous and apprehensive.
“How did it go,” asked Barbie, curiously.
“Oh okay. Thanks Barbie.”
“That’s okay.” She made no further effort to talk to him, but smiled sweetly.
The next two weeks were painful. The girls only spoke to him when necessary and it was quite clear that they had closed ranks against him. He was deeply angry at the injustice of it but also felt something like hatred for Barbie. He suspected she was to blame although he didn’t show it. He was starting to think about moving on. He hadn’t intended to, at least for the last couple of months.
“I never intended to stay anyway,” he told himself.
Dave made several attempts to establish himself independently of the girls and even to prove his worth to them and to himself.
He went to see another film, ‘Showgirls’, with the intention of chatting up the blonde girl who he guessed worked at the ticket office.
Dave smiled at her, and said, “Hi,” when he bought the ticket. He waited outside afterwards, sipping a plastic cup of coffee, waiting for her to have a break.
He had no idea if she’d remember him or not from the previous visits, but it seemed that she did. He knew that the film wasn’t a romantic one, and it would hardly look good. But since he hadn’t known if she’d be there he flattered himself that he thought it was more important to enjoy himself than to chat her up. He was lucky, and after his second coffee she came out for a fag. She smiled, and he smiled back. She said something in Dutch, which he didn’t understand.
“I’m English,” he replied.
“Ah. I asked if you were vating for someone.”
“No,” he said. He wondered if he should add, ‘Only you’, but felt it was too obvious.