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More Sawn-Off Tales David Gaffney

More Sawn-Off Tales By David Gaffney

More Sawn-Off Tales by David Gaffney


£25.79
Condition - Very Good
Only 4 left

Summary

In stories that are laugh-out-loud funny, cringingly weird and desperately sad, Gaffney introduces the possibility of momentary actions that change everything; a swimming man sees a hundred glass eyes at the bottom of a river; and a comedian decides to express himself through the medium of smell.

More Sawn-Off Tales Summary

More Sawn-Off Tales by David Gaffney

In stories that are laugh out loud funny, cringingly weird and desperately sad., Gaffney introduces the possibility of momentary actions that change everything; a swimming man sees a hundred glass eyes at the bottom of a river; a broken vase causes a couple to re-examine their relationship with the universe; a zoo with only three animals makes a man reconsider his relationship to his surrounding; and a comedian decides to expresses himself through the medium of smell.

Relationships begin, stutter, then crash to earth, each mundane transaction peeling away the everyday to reveal a canyon of emotion.

Gaffney's characters are awkward, often disconnected, yet they are also profoundly sympathetic. With great empathy and generosity he reveals the idiosyncrasies, vulnerability, yearning, and twisted systems that governs our lives. In More Sawn-off Tales David Gaffney creates a deliriously lonely, yet lovely universe where strangers hand you their watch and an estranged couple try to communicate through paint colour. An expert miniaturist with the ability to stuff an elephant inside a flea without the insect noticing, Gaffney is like David Shrigley meets Curb Your Enthusiasm.

More Sawn-Off Tales Reviews

Loaded with potent charges, insidious and cumulative in their effects, in Gaffney's fiction thoughts take physical form, and the material world has a surreal vitality. The stories are sometimes haunting, and sometimes comic.

* Times Literary Supplement *

Evanescent moments of connection and happiness. One hundred and fifty words by Gaffney are more worthwhile than novels by a good many others.

-- Nicholas Clee * The Guardian *

Utterly brilliant. Hilariously demented and wonderfully succinct. David Gaffney's Sawn-Off Tales are little McNuggets of pure gold. This is writing at its best.

-- Graham Rawle

More Sawn-Off Tales is rich with phrases which will stick in the reader's memory (`I keep a ball of tissue under my armpit and drop shreds of it into her food to keep her loyal') and ideas which are ripe for expansion into longer stories, such as the psychiatrists who organise arts activities for their manic patients so that they can burgle their houses.

* Workshy Fop *

Bleached Lichen Number Four is one of the most heart-wrenching stories of the collection, and depicts a man who attempts to communicate to his ex-girlfriend through the colour of her favourite paint. It, like many others in this fantastic collection, is a clever and poignant exploration of what it takes to be connected to another.

With More Sawn Off Tales, Gaffney has created very short stories that offer full, vivid and complete worlds for the reader to inhabit, and once inside they won't want to leave.

-- Kylie Grant * The List *

In More Sawn-Off Tales Gaffney demonstrates his mastery over flash fiction, as he evokes sadness and humour in equal measure through the often tragic but fully formed characters in 70-plus stories.

* The Big Issue *

About David Gaffney

David Gaffney lives in Manchester. He is the author of several books including Sawn-Off Tales (2006), Aromabingo (2007), Never Never (2008), The Half-Life of Songs (2010) and More Sawn-Off Tales (2013). He has written articles for the Guardian, Sunday Times, Financial Times and Prospect, and his new novel, All The Places I've Ever Lived, is due out in spring 2017. See www.davidgaffney.org.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Passing Place

Nerves

Hidden Obvious Typical

It Happens Inside

Oasis Leisure Lounge

Bleached Lichen Number Four

The Clever People Who Can't Do Anything Useful

Mo's Feet

The Zoo With Three Animals

Acceptable for Men to Like

Something Happened Here

Reekers

Functional Market Area

More Men Will Come

The Homes of Others

It's All in Storage

Everything's West of Something

The Three Rooms In Valerie's Head

The Big Pub

The Joke About Todd Pokato

Lifting and Handling the Truth

The Building With the Hole

The Proper Care of Surfaces

The Receipt

The Smell Comedian

Get the Ball and Give It to Bobby Moore

The Gypsy in Me

New Audiences

The Power of Millions

Boy You Turn Me

It Doesn't Really Matter If Things Die Out

Taped Over

Thrill Me Slowly

The Listed Bridge

The Good Machines

Happy Birthday, Hee Hee

The Scientific Explanation for Faraway Eyes

Can You Feel the Waves?

Let's See What Rachel's Been Up To

Nothing Can Hurt Me Now

Nineteen-Eighties Cavalier

The Man Who Was Always There But Never Said Anything

Blood in Flight

Lag Phase

Buy Yourself a Cheap Tray

Skewness

For The Lady

Other People's Worlds

Inches From What You Want

Uncle Leonard

The Bad Psychiatrists

This Is Your Brain On Drugs

Doll Parts

The Woman With the Four Planks of Wood

Loss Function

The Bear's Head

Like a Town

The Mousemats Say Innovate Or Die

Normal Hours

Private View

Dip Finish

DJ Stinger and the Ghost Alpcaca

Effective Calming Measures

How to Get Around in the Sky

As If You Are There

Talking to the Budgerigar

The Happy Spore

The Leaves Are Really Something Else

The Periphery is Everywhere

The Underpass

Two Columns

Eat Less Pastry

A Dress Code For Modern Musicians

Additional information

GOR006257557
9781907773433
1907773436
More Sawn-Off Tales by David Gaffney
Used - Very Good
Hardback
Salt Publishing
2013-05-15
160
Long-listed for Edge Hill Prize for the Short Story 2014 (UK)
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in very good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

Customer Reviews - More Sawn-Off Tales