regi claire
   
 
 
  • FIGHTING IT
  • THE BEAUTY ROOM
  • INSIDE-OUTSIDE
  • other
  • samples
     

Fighting It


Two Ravens Press
June 2009
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FIGHTING IT – short stories

‘a truly fabulous collection’ Louise Welsh, Introduction

A woman revolutionary, a woman in prison, a husband seeking revenge, a child driven to sin – they are all ‘fighting it’, battling to retain their belief in themselves.
No mere slices of life, the stories in this second collection by award-winning Scottish-Swiss author Regi Claire have the range and depth of whole novels. They give voice to men and women who seem otherwise condemned to suffer in silence and whose struggles we recognise as our own. Sometimes with humour, sometimes in despair they cry out, clamouring for our attention. Claire’s prose is edgy and vibrant and, whether set in the ice-cool beauty of the Swiss mountains, the heat of Tenerife, the urban frenzy of Paris, Zurich or Edinburgh, her tales are at once deeply disturbing and almost unbearably compassionate.

  

reviews

‘The stories in FIGHTING IT are so finely wrought that it can be a surprise to realise how short some of them are. These are whole universes captured in a drop of water. Claire allows us access into the heart of lives and people unmet. And even though we may be very different form the individuals we encounter between these pages, we can gain a moment of shared humanity with them. Not simply because Regi Claire grants us privileged access to their worlds and psyches but because we are all up against something and every one of us fighting it, Fighting It. This is a truly fabulous collection.’ from Louise Welsh’s Introduction

‘Claire's virtuosity lies in her range. (…). While so many authors tend to stick to a particular subculture, Claire ... roams the length and breadth of Europe … all ages, all classes. It is as if she is saying that wherever you come from, when we are up against a wall and fighting it, we are all similar animals. ... There is nothing ordinary about these tales. They are all extraordinary.’ Vicky Allen, Sunday Herald

‘Her prose has a cut glass quality. Clear and crisp as Alpine air, it refracts the light at startling angles, illuminates the singular, the striking detail, turns a flashlight on the dark corners of the psyche, and manages not to flinch.’ Alison Miller, Scottish Review of Books
read full review (Volume Five Issue Two – please scroll down ‘Reviews’)

‘This is typical of Claire’s style: the everyday and the unpredictable mixed with confidence.’ Rozalind Dineen, Times Literary Supplement

‘…startlingly different… You will not read these stories without being deeply affected… heartrending…’ Elspeth Brown, Markings

‘Louise Welsh calls FIGHTING IT a “truly fabulous collection”, and I’d have to agree. For vivid insights into the human spirit under stress, I’d highly recommend FIGHTING IT.’
Lisa Glass, Vulpes Libris
read full review

‘Reading the whole collection was like the best kind of journey’ Sarah Salway, The Short Review
read full review

‘The stories in FIGHTING IT … are intense, heartbreaking and unforgettable ... And I’m not just saying this because Regi is my wife!’ Ron Butlin, Scotsman

‘Like a prize-fighter, Claire bursts out of her corner with the story that gives the book its name and knocks us off balance. She gives instant access to character, location and mood, throwing the reader into the muscular arms of inimitable protagonists, and provides toned and buffed imagination, independent of technical trickery or contemporary fads. (…)
Claire’s stories unnerve, but subtly. (…) Of all the sixteen stories, I most enjoyed this one [‘Diessenhofen Bridge’] for its execution and its deadly induction of sympathy and dislike for Leon, the main character, who is realised with enormous sensitivity. ‘Invisible Partners’ boasts wonderful imagery that affects with its poignancy – such as a woman of seventy-one, curious about death, seeing her hand ‘curled around empty air’. And in ‘Because You Are Foreign’, images and icons work to excellent effect, uniting to nourish the theme, and to tantalise. I was moved to tears by ‘The Marilyn Monroe of the Meadows’, a love letter to a dying dog. It is beautiful, restrained, truthful, perfect.
In this always enjoyable collection, Claire’s representations of the variety of human experience are spell-binding; you emerge from her spell slightly dazed, senses well-exercised, for you too have been ‘fighting it’.’ Patricia McCaw, Edinburgh Review

‘Most of the narrators and protagonists in FIGHTING IT, Regi Claire’s new collection, are on the edge, struggling against something, fighting… ‘it’. ‘It’ might be illness or the effects of bereavement. It might be ignorance or intolerance, an unwillingness to forget or forgive. Claire is an exceptionally gifted writer who can provoke the most sluggish brain to thought and move the hardest heart. I’m no dog lover, but I finished ‘The Marilyn Monroe of the Meadows’, a story about a dying golden retriever told mainly in the second person, with a certain stinging sensation behind the eyes.’ Nicholas Royle

‘Regi Claire is a writer of compassion and determination. Her stories are filled with the details of pain and physical bewilderment and leavened with tenderness.’ A L Kennedy

‘…gripping, moving and disturbing (in the best possible sense of the word). I hesitate to use the word "brave" because it might sound patronising, but the courage [Claire has] in going into such unnerving places - places that are latent in us all - is daunting. … Hauntingly beautiful. … I love this collection. Alison Kennedy says it all!’ Joyce Gunn Cairns MBE, artist

‘A truly wonderful collection:  sharp-edged emotion, finely portrayed with deep humanity.  Every story has it own atmosphere but there's an underlying unity.  I loved them... The book is also well-produced with elegant design.  A class act, indeed.’ Malcolm McCallum, guitar/vocals, Magnitoz


   

The Beauty Room

Polygon/EUP
May 2002
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THE BEAUTY ROOM – novel

‘… a superb writer. I was totally there in that house and in that atmosphere. It's incredibly sensual and physically realised. I found it both gripping, in that I kept creeping away to read it, and disturbing, in that I felt a lingering sense of that atmosphere, almost a dread. Also very sexy …’ Lesley Glaister

THE BEAUTY ROOM is set in Switzerland during the two-week period of Carnival, a time of recklessness, confusion and disguise, a time when appearance becomes reality.
Celia Roth is a single thirty-something who has lost her unloved and unloving mother, a beautician who treated her clients in her home, in what she called the ‘beauty room’. The death catapults Celia into a world of sudden wild desires, a world of freedom and real liberation. Her first act is to ring up a decorator – and it doesn’t take her long to fall for him. As the walls are getting stripped back to the plasterwork, she is forced to confront some uncomfortable truths about her family. And when she receives a bouquet of black tulips, she realises she is being watched. She flees to the safety of the Alps, but even there finds no rest…

  

reviews

‘a search for love is at the heart of this ambitious first novel … dramatic … shocking and rebarbative … an impressive debut novel, elegantly written with a generous cast of cleverly drawn complementary characters’ Carl MacDougall, The Herald

‘THE BEAUTY ROOM is a sensitive account of the process of bereavement. Claire's symbolism is inspired: a beautician whose professional skill cannot disguise her facial cancer though she does a brilliant job of masking her private life; a subterranean cave whose secret underlies the relationship between Gabrielle and her estranged son. Although not for the prudish, it is full of insight and fine writing which will stay with you long after Celia moves out of Gabrielle’s shadow into the new life she craves.’ The Scotsman

‘As the … family history unfolds, Celia’s repressed sexuality emerges with a bristling electricity that fairly crackles off the pages. … Strange and menacing … beautiful writing’ Scottish Book Collector

‘Regi Claire's vision is fresh, unusual, and subtly delivered in THE BEAUTY ROOM. Her sharply imagined opening scenes swiftly focus intense, often unexpected emotions, and these are intriguingly extended throughout. Colourful and haunting, this is a novel which long remains in the mind - an impressive debut, and a welcome addition to the Scottish literary landscape.’ Randall Stevenson, author of The Oxford English Literary History: 1960-2000

‘THE BEAUTY ROOM fairly hums with sexual tension’ Sunday Herald

‘an original and enjoyable debut’ The List

‘a fine tale of intrigue and tension’ Caledonia

‘THE BEAUTY ROOM is tightly written, terse with gripping sexual tension.’ Isla Dewar

 

 

   

Inside-Outside


Scottish Cultural Press
Nov. 1998
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INSIDE-OUTSIDE – short stories

‘Claire’s writing is taut yet supple, bursting with exotic images, not a single one of which seems superfluous. She’s sharp as a scalpel, and compassionate too. Instruct your bookseller to order one for you and a dozen for the shop.’ Nicholas Royle, Time Out

INSIDE~OUTSIDE is a powerful first collection of stories by prize-winning author Regi Claire. Intensely perceived and intensely written, they focus on predators and victims, the shunned and the damned, on people who don’t conform or no longer want to.
Whether she tells of a Scotswoman’s sinister experiences in Mauritius, a girl hitchhiker’s obsession with breaking the rules, or a female guard’s abuse of power in a women’s prison, Regi Claire presents an explosive mix of anger and liberation.
Displaying a depth of insight rare in so young a writer, these haunting stories can be placed at no disadvantage against the very best contemporary writing in Britain.

  

reviews

‘sharp, intense and almost frighteningly perceptive’ Lesley Glaister, Sunday Herald

‘a vertiginous, unsettling read … A waspish wisdom is laced through the writing … this collection gives the impression of stepping into a world that may be more turbulent than the one we inhabit, but is also a richer and warmer place.’ Sian Preece, Scotland on Sunday

‘never insipid, full of imagination’ Times Literary Supplement

‘the writing is elegant and crafted … an assured and unusual voice’ James Robertson, Chapman

‘a most impressive first volume’ Douglas Gifford, Books in Scotland

‘self-assured and confident … intense and fiercely focused’ Edinburgh Review

‘unsettling and disturbing, taking you to the edge’ Scottish Book Collector

‘The true worth of these collections [INSIDE~OUTSIDE by Regi Claire and NAIL AND OTHER STORIES by Laura Hird] is … in their ability to convey pain, suffering and destruction. Both force the reader to think, to question, to face some harsh realities and to react.’ Scottish Literary Journal Review Supplement

‘What she certainly has is the storyteller’s gift.’ Edwin Morgan

‘For once the blurb doesn’t lie. No mistake about it, [Regi Claire is] a writer. Fully-fledged and first-rate. … I read [the] book twice: a first time for the storyline, then a second fine-combing for those little felicities of style which make it so compelling to read.’ Iain Bamforth

 

 

   

 

 

 

other

‘Over, All Over and Beyond’ (as Yvonne D. Claire) – Edinburgh Review 95
ed. Robert Alan Jamieson and Gavin Wallace, spring 1996

‘Getting Rid of the Gods’ (as Yvonne D. Claire) – Northwords 9
ed. Tom Bryan, spring 1996

‘Breaking the Rules’ (as Yvonne D. Claire) – Chapman 85
ed. Joy Hendry, summer 1996

‘Pretutindeni’ (as Yvonne D. Claire) – Unu 77-78 (Romania)
trans. Magda Danciu, July-August 1996

‘Clowns, Clowns’ (as Yvonne Claire) – Edinburgh Review 97
ed. Robert Alan Jamieson and Gavin Wallace, spring 1997

‘The Ladies’ Man’ (as Yvonne D. Claire) – Quality Women’s Fiction (QWF) 13
ed. Joanne Good, October-November 1997

‘Kalsang’s Brother’ – Edinburgh Review 99
ed. Robert Alan Jamieson and Sophie Dale, spring 1998

‘Super Vanilla’ – Northwords 15
ed. Angus Dunn, spring 1998

‘Bellaluna’ – New London Writers 3
ed. Alice Wickham and Nichola Cortese, May-June 1998

‘In Memoriam’ – SHORTS: The Macallan / Scotland on Sunday Short Story Collection
selected by Robert Alan Jamieson, Polygon, 1998

‘Shelfish Thoughts’ – Scottish Book Collector, Vol. 6, No 4
ed. Jennie Renton, spring 1999

‘On the Run’ – Neonlit: TIME OUT Book of New Writing, Vol. 2
ed. Nicholas Royle, Quartet Books, 1999

‘Bellaluna’ – Marilynre várva: Mai skót novellák (Hungary)
ed. Gertrud Szamosi, no date of publication

‘Upside-Down World’ – (Mole) 1
ed. Pauline Morgan and Nicholas Royle, autumn 2001

‘Extract from THE BEAUTY ROOM’ – GaelForce 2002
summer 2002

‘The Death Queue’ – Edinburgh Review 109
ed. Ronald Turnbull, summer 2002

‘Heat’ – Cadenza 7
ed. Jo Good, autumn 2002

‘The Legacy’ – Northwords 30
ed. Robert Davidson, winter 2002/03

‘Invisible Partners’ – Word Jig: New Fiction From Scotland
ed. Marie Carter, Hanging Loose Press, New York, 2003

‘Diessenhofen Bridge’ – Chapman 102-103 (centenary issue)
ed. Joy Hendry, summer 2003

‘The Punishment’ – Scottish Book Collector 7:10
ed. Jennie Renton, summer 2004

‘Pedeapsa’ (translation of ‘The Punishment’) – Familia 7-8 (Romania)
trans. Magda Danciu, July-August 2004

‘Sonntagsschuhe’ (translated excerpt from work in progress WOMEN WITHOUT MEN) – orte 140 (Switzerland)
trans. Ueli Schenker, May/June 2005

‘WOMEN WITHOUT MEN (novel excerpt, Chapter 5)’ – Variations 13 (Switzerland)
ed. Sylvie Jeanneret et al., December 2005

‘Fighting It’ – Scottish Arts Council website
June-Aug. 2005

‘Fighting It’ (extract) – Dreams That Money Can Buy 3
ed. Benjamin Ware and Sarah Lomax, spring 2006

‘No Volcano, Goddammit. No Smoke Holes’ – Edinburgh Review 117
ed. Brian McCabe, spring 2006

‘Snow White and the Prince’ – Textualities 1
ed. Jennie Renton, spring 2006

‘Patchouli, Loulou and Opium’ – Textualities 1
ed. Jennie Renton, spring 2006

‘Cool Room 3’ – Tears in the Fence 43
ed. David Caddy, summer 2006

‘The Marilyn Monroe of the Meadows Or: Trust Me’ – Sandstone Review 9 webzine
summer 2006

‘Cool Room 3’ – BBC Radio 4, 3 Jan. 2007 (Scottish Shorts)

‘Marlene’ – Corvaceous webzine (Two Ravens Press)
June 2008

‘Meeting the Exiled Emperor’ – ONE Magazine 5
ed. Martin Belk et al., summer 2008

‘Invisible Partners’ – Cleave: New Writing from Women in Scotland
ed. Sharon Blackie, Two Ravens Press, 2008

‘The Death Queue’ – Stolen Stories
ed. Ryan van Winkle et al., Forest Publications, 2008

‘Walking Down the Line’ – Markings 28
ed. John Hudson and Chrys Salt, spring 2009

‘Russian Blue’ – Edinburgh Review 126
ed. Brian McCabe, spring 2009

‘The Story Behind FIGTHING IT’ – Vulpes Libris (original version), Textualities and Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature websites (updated version)
summer 2009

  
     

 

   

 

samples

publications

FIGHTING IT (original version)
Scottish Arts Council website, June-Aug. 2005

FIGHTING IT (extract from book version)

'Cool Room 3' (including teaching materials)

‘The Story Behind FIGHTING IT’
Vulpes Libris (original version), Textualities and Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature websites (updated version), summer 2009

‘Shelfish Thoughts’
Scottish Book Collector, Vol. 6, No 4, spring 1999

radio

No Quicktime? - then download it - ‘Cool Room 3’ (from FIGHTING IT)
BBC Radio 4, 3 Jan. 2007 (Scottish Shorts)