July 7th 2006
£6.99
144 pages
B-Format Jacketed Paperback Original
ISBN
0 9547913 5 5

Loffing Matters by Paul McDonald

Buy Now Price £6.99

“Why are there so few collections of humorous short stories around? I mean modern ones, without P. G. Wodehouse in? Collections of every other kind of modern short story abound. Horror, crime, science fiction, football related, drug inspired, dream inspired, dysentery inspired (aka travel inspired), postmodern, post-postmodern. But where are the humour stories? Well here, at last. And it’s about time because laughing matters – and, if you happen to come from the Black Country, so does loffing. Certainly it matters in fiction – and in the special relationship between humour and the short story. Think about it: Dorothy Parker, Garrison Keillor, Edgar Allan Poe (maybe it’s just me with the last one). This volume nurtures that relationship with challenging, culturally aware stories that everyone will enjoy.”

“Life is sometimes hard for the protagonists of Loffing Matters. It’s hard for superfluous pensioners, impecunious tour guides and confrontational artists. Life is hard for men trapped in the tramlines of inevitability, exploited 7-Eleven workers, or tutors who rhapsodize to deaf ears. When life is hard, then laughing really does matter. Life is better if you can.”

— Paul McDonald, from his Introduction

Black Country novelist and lecturer Paul McDonald introduces a showcase of four comic writers – with two stories each from Liza Granville, John Mulcreevey, Joan Michelson, and Laurence Inman.

Add Your Comment