Sawn-Off Tales

Synopsis

David Gaffney’s compact, surreal tales are filled with poignancy and wit. Each story goes off like a tiny depth charge in the mind, leaving you with the trace memory of some new urban myth – comic, absurd and disturbingly true.

Praise for this Book

‘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

‘David Gaffney writes truly 21st century stories for a fragmented and fragmenting world; they’re short, snappy and utterly addictive and they should be required reading for anybody trying to make sense of Britain in 2006; or for anybody in a bus queue with five minutes to spare.’ —Ian McMillan

Reviews of this Book

‘Funny, pointed, and sometimes even disturbing, Gaffney’s stories deserve to be read.’ —Jim Burns, Ambit

‘This book will knock you out. Packed with emotion, annoyance, and social science fiction, it’s a testament to imagination and the skill of illustrating it.’ —Harlan Levey, Modart Magazine

‘David Gaffney is an evolution, a moment in time to be lavished with a literary eye, to be goggled with a mind broad and open enough to look and look anew. Each snippet disturbingly captures everyday life in superbly unique fashion. What a stunning collection.’ —Eugen M. Bacon, TCM

‘Gaffney has produced the kind of book that makes you wish you spent more time locked in your imagination and less time dismissing irreverent thoughts.’ —Lianne Steinberg, The Big Issue

‘Almost all the 58 stories in David Gaffney's collection are shorter than this review. Reality becomes dislocated and strange; words and phrases acquire a compelling importance . . . One hundred and fifty words by Gaffney are more worthwhile than novels by a good many others.’ —Nicholas Clee, The Guardian

‘Exceptional and well deserving of the hardcover slapped around them...witty, clever and poignant Gaffney's micro fictions work as funny routines, moving insights and illuminating character sketches, often all at the same time.’ —Nicholas Royle, Time Out

‘Sawn-Off Tales is an original collection, one that bravely attempts to present modern life in the way that we ourselves experience it – as a series small, occasionally meaningless snapshots, which build to create a rich complexity.’ —Lucy Wood, Transition Tradition