Author: | Sheena Blackhall | ISBN: | 9781465707543 |
Publisher: | Sheena Blackhall | Publication: | November 13, 2011 |
Imprint: | Smashwords Edition | Language: | English |
Author: | Sheena Blackhall |
ISBN: | 9781465707543 |
Publisher: | Sheena Blackhall |
Publication: | November 13, 2011 |
Imprint: | Smashwords Edition |
Language: | English |
Anecdotes, rumour, gossip...urban myths can straddle all those categories. Often they are short, like fables and can be told quickly in a paragraph or two. The tales in this book draw from various sources. The Book of Nasty Legends by Paul Smith (Fontana Paperbacks 1984: ISBN 0-00-636856-5) is one source. Another is the late Stanley Robertson, who liked to tell a version of ‘The Bridge’ in the form of a joke. (Of course it has much darker possibilities.) Ghost tales collected from the Aberdeen area mention a servant sacked for the loss of a fiver, wrongly accused of theft who subsequently committed suicide, and this is woven into ‘The Keeper of the Kennels’. I like to think of urban myths as little acorns desperate to grow into oaks, and love providing them with knots, gnarls and leaves.
Anecdotes, rumour, gossip...urban myths can straddle all those categories. Often they are short, like fables and can be told quickly in a paragraph or two. The tales in this book draw from various sources. The Book of Nasty Legends by Paul Smith (Fontana Paperbacks 1984: ISBN 0-00-636856-5) is one source. Another is the late Stanley Robertson, who liked to tell a version of ‘The Bridge’ in the form of a joke. (Of course it has much darker possibilities.) Ghost tales collected from the Aberdeen area mention a servant sacked for the loss of a fiver, wrongly accused of theft who subsequently committed suicide, and this is woven into ‘The Keeper of the Kennels’. I like to think of urban myths as little acorns desperate to grow into oaks, and love providing them with knots, gnarls and leaves.