Nigel Bird hasn’t been writing short stories for long, but damn, you wouldn’t know that by the selection of gems in Dirty Old Town and Other Stories.
There’s nine of them here, and each one offers a unique little slice of filthy life. From the downbeat last day of a tormented old janitor in “Taking a Line for a Walk” to the dark and clever humor of the Ramones-inspired “Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want to Fight)”, Bird displays a remarkable insight into what makes the lowlifes and losers of the world tick.
He’s at his best with the stories written in first person, and fortunately that’s the majority of them. It’s the voice, man: it’s authentic and sincere and real, shot through with remarkable bits of insightful black humor.
Like this one, from the title story, “Dirty Old Town”, which starts with the narrator getting the bee-jeezus beaten out of him:
“It was like my birthday in reverse. They gave plenty and I ended up with less than I started with.”
That line kills me.
At .99 cents on Kindle, this is the kind of bargain you don’t wanna miss. Bird is the real deal.
Favorite stories:
“Taking a Line for a Walk”
“Dirty Old Town”
“One Hundred and Ten Percent”
Yeah, good call. One thing I like about Nigel's stories is that he doesn't look down his nose at the people in them - and they seem like people.
ReplyDeleteAlso, he touches on so many worlds! An Olympic team! Clever but never smart-arse. I'll plonk my own piece about the book at my gaff this week.