
Aromabingo
David Gaffney(Author)
Salt Publishing
Will be published approx. on 15. October 2009
Book
Paperback/Softback
144 pages
978-1-84471-546-6 (ISBN)
Description
Aromabingo builds on the critical success of David Gaffney's 2006 collection Sawn-off Tales, offering yet more of Gaffney's weird and edgy ultra-shorts, plus several longer works, so you can spend even more time inside the baffling, hilarious and sometimes moving world of a David Gaffney story. Think Magnus Mills mashed with the League of Gentlemen with a jolt of Mark E. Smithery for grit, and you're nearly there. Though many of his stories are shorter than a Napalm Death snarl, these precision-engineered slivers of fiction leave you with the dying chords of a symphony. They are about the small people, the tiny Tardis folk with cathedrals inside them, creeping by unnoticed. These tales will have you laughing like at a Tommy Cooper video though there's something hideous gnawing at the door to get in. Be careful, a spoonful weighs a ton.
Reviews / Votes
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 Funny, pointed, and sometimes even disturbing, Gaffney's stories deserve to be read. -- Jim Burns * Ambit * Gaffney's book will knock you out. Packed with emotion, annoyance, and social science fiction, its a testament to imagination and the skill of illustrating it. -- Harlan Levey * Modart * 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. There's a parochial quality to this work that gives off a humble warm glow. Set in Woolworths, barber shops, and offices, Gaffney looks at relationships and his characters are all a little lost and tinged with pathos but surreally optimistic. Each story has a quirky end which make you wish Gaffney was allowed 15 minutes of time with Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant to make his vision come to life. -- Lianne Steinberg * The Big Issue * Reality becomes dislocated and strange and words and phrases acquire a compelling importance in these sad, funny fables. They recall 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 *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Illustrations
Not illustrated
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 129 mm
Thickness: 16 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-84471-546-6 (9781844715466)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Person
David Gaffney lives in Manchester. He is the author of the novels Never Never (2008), All The Places I've Ever Lived ( 2017) and Out Of The Dark (2022) plus the flash fiction and short story collections Sawn-Off Tales (2006), Aromabingo (2007), The Half-Life of Songs (2010) and More Sawn-Off Tales (2013). His graphic novels with Dan Berry include The Three Rooms In Valerie's Head (2018) and Rivers (2021).
Content
1. 45 REVOLUTIONS PER MINUTE:
Art Movement
The Kids from Film Noir
Pretty, Ain't It?
All Mod Cons
Sniffin' Glue
Still in Box
Speaking in Pantone
Die like a Rock
Great Inventions # 1
Lucky Winner
A Good Deal
Through the Medium of Modern Dance
Great Inventions # 2
Smaller than One Eightieth the Diameter of a Human Hair
Blurred Girls
The Secret Pictures of David Cameron
The Newt Lady's Dead Now
The Life of Riley
You've Chosen to be Excited
Great Inventions # 3
Are We Romping Now?
Clown-Time is Over
The Accused Made Spider Furniture
Container Driver
Using the Facilities
When Chairs Attack
Shooting Lulu
A Feel for Format
Grockel Bashing
Cleaning up New York
Aromabingo
2. TWELVE-INCH SINGLES:
The Happiness Well
Last Chance to Turn Around
You and You Alone
Only the Stones Remain
In the Days Before Trickery
The Nineteen Seventy-Six Trouser Famine
Who reads this story will not sin
What Would Bill Hicks Do?
Mean Picking
The Last Northerner
3. LONG PLAYERS:
This is About Dixie
Finding Skerryvore
Does Anyone Care for You on a Regular Basis?
Special Pudding
Guided by Voices
Gossamer
4. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Art Movement
The Kids from Film Noir
Pretty, Ain't It?
All Mod Cons
Sniffin' Glue
Still in Box
Speaking in Pantone
Die like a Rock
Great Inventions # 1
Lucky Winner
A Good Deal
Through the Medium of Modern Dance
Great Inventions # 2
Smaller than One Eightieth the Diameter of a Human Hair
Blurred Girls
The Secret Pictures of David Cameron
The Newt Lady's Dead Now
The Life of Riley
You've Chosen to be Excited
Great Inventions # 3
Are We Romping Now?
Clown-Time is Over
The Accused Made Spider Furniture
Container Driver
Using the Facilities
When Chairs Attack
Shooting Lulu
A Feel for Format
Grockel Bashing
Cleaning up New York
Aromabingo
2. TWELVE-INCH SINGLES:
The Happiness Well
Last Chance to Turn Around
You and You Alone
Only the Stones Remain
In the Days Before Trickery
The Nineteen Seventy-Six Trouser Famine
Who reads this story will not sin
What Would Bill Hicks Do?
Mean Picking
The Last Northerner
3. LONG PLAYERS:
This is About Dixie
Finding Skerryvore
Does Anyone Care for You on a Regular Basis?
Special Pudding
Guided by Voices
Gossamer
4. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS