Welcome to Denny's
Darker Matter
A site of noir-humoured fiction
Close friends, family, and colleagues describe Denny Darke (aka Gary Trew) as a funny British guy living in Canada. His quick-witted humour has been perfected as a child protection social worker and police officer. Gary holds two university degrees: a B.Sc. (Biochemistry & Chemistry—Birmingham) and a BSW (Social Work—Victoria), overcoming brain trauma and dyslexia.​
Aside from writing complex case notes and court reports, as a subject matter expert (child protection), he’s created briefing notes for Honourable Parliamentary Secretaries and Ministers in British Columbia. Denny’s adult writing experience emanates from creating many court documents, psych reports, and case notes, which may sound rather drab; however, his social work career and police work, dealing with criminals and corpses, has helped him cultivate a terrible sense of dark humour, a prerequisite to surviving in that environment.
Denny can only blame his father, Denis/Denny, for passing the noir humour gene to him. Gary is thankful his dad brainwashed him with slapstick comedies like Monty Python and The Goodies and encouraged him to read books by Joseph Heller. Denny Darke is Gary’s pen name: Denny (dad’s first name) and Darke (grandma’s maiden name).​
Despite Denny’s “non-education” at the Knoll School (read Gary Trew’s memoir, The Hate Game), he devoured books like Cancer Ward, First Circle, and The Gulag Archipelago. His dyslexia didn’t help him remember characters’ names like “Oleg Filimonovich Kostoglotov” and “Ivan Denisovich Shukhov”—never mind spelling the likes of “Bolshevik” or the author’s last name. However, Denny read books because he missed so much schooling, and The Atari 2600 or Nintendo Entertainment System hadn’t been invented and were more expensive than a library membership. So, he liked to be reminded that although life was often miserable and gloomy, at least he wasn’t living the dream in the Soviet Union. ​
Books help Denny to escape, appreciate, and dream. Fast forward—having worked as an investigator with abused and neglected children and youth, Gary has come to appreciate the ability to laugh despite the stresses and strains of life. He credits his long-suffering wife and his four crazy-assed daughters—a resilient bunch who inherited the ability to laugh through their own darkness. Denny is surprised that they have yet to disown him.
He may not have Prince Harry’s popularity, but Denny Darke has a similar accent and has met Harry’s dad and uncle. The truth is that HRH, the King (then a lowly Prince), muttered a few words to him on his passing out parade as a naval aviator. Harry’s brother, HRH Prince Edward, used Gary’s officer’s mess, or dining area, when on secondment during his brief service in the Royal Marines.