Charlie Williams (born 1971) is an English writer.

Early life and education

Charlie Williams was born in 1971 in

Worcester, England Worcester ( ) is a cathedral city in Worcestershire, England, of which it is the county town. It is south-west of Birmingham, north of Gloucester and north-east of Hereford. The population was 103,872 in the 2021 census. The River Severn f ...

. He attended

Swansea University Swansea University () is a public university, public research university located in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom. It was chartered as University College of Swansea in 1920, as the fourth college of the University of Wales. In 1996, it chang ...

Swansea Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

Books

Five of Williams' novels comprise ''The Mangel Series'', published between 2004 and 2013. The protagonist is nightclub doorman Royston Blake and the novels are set in the fictional town of Mangel, which is based loosely on Worcester itself. ''Deadfolk'' was published in 2004, ''Fags and Lager'' in 2005, ''King of the Road'' in 2006, ''One Dead Hen'' in 2011 and ''Made of Stone'' in 2013. Comic, rural noir in the style of writers such as Jim Thompson, they use a colloquial first-person narrative throughout, in dialect, with Royston Blake as narrator. Thematically the novels explore dysfunctional masculinity and the decline and alienation of provincial Britain, and are littered with references to popular cultural icons of the seventies and eighties (Blake's, and Williams', formative period). Previous to the success of the Mangel trilogy, Williams had attempted for some years to break into the horror genre. Other notable works are the novel ''Stairway to Hell'' (2009), the novella ''Graven Image'' (2011), and the screenplay for the short film ''Ark''.

References

21st-century English novelists 1971 births Living people Alumni of Swansea University People educated at the Royal Grammar School Worcester English male novelists 21st-century English male writers {{England-writer-stub