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.
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.
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 *Your Name in Weetos
The Lost Language of Hairgrips
Last to Know
Flying Lessons with Gary Numan
Intimate Zone
Happy Place
Where We Left Off
You Know, Quiet
`Uchafu'
What You Know is There
Pets
Killer Lines
Click
Into the World
Heavy Java Guy
She's Really Alt-Country
Smells Like
Some Call it Loungecore
Special Interest
We Are the Robots
Little Jan
A Good System
We Like it Here
No Turning
Last Chance to Turn Around
Mask
The Kids Are All Right
Tasting Notes
Wednesday Night's Alright for Fighting
Contact Time
Enclosures
New Best Friend
Potato Smiles
Shop Talk
Until You are Happy
Floydy
The Habits of Unstoppable People
The Way you Say `Park'
Lady Pleaser
First Out
Light Lunch
With Tongues
On This Very Special Day
Cica Lights
The World Won't Listen
Smack
End of Line
Server Farmer
Kick inside
Pop-Tarts
The Funny Way I Feel Inside
The Heartless Chain
The Man Whose Head Expanded
A Personal Message
Doctor Logic
Dead Star
Do You Know Where I Am?
Life Just Bounces