Glyn Carter’s latest collection of short stories

Adult fairies at the Bookkeeper

Local author Glyn Carter launches his first collection of short stories on Friday 10 May. Erica Smith wandered down the garden path to find out more.

Glyn describes his book, An Eclection Of Fairies as “Fairy Tales for the Modern Age”. “I might have called them magic-realist, and I love that tradition – the first literature I got excited about was Marquez’s 100 Years of Solitude – but it does seem a bit pretentious to elbow my way into such illustrious company. So Modern Fairy Tales it is.”

He’s at pains to point out that the stories are not for children. They are darkly comic, as in ‘Pandora’s Box dot com‘, in which two teenagers unwittingly steal the devil’s laptop. Or ‘Paulo and Francesca’, which explores the thoughts of the characters portrayed in Rodin’s famous sculpture The Kiss. And in ‘Sossity’, a transsexual woman becomes increasingly reliant on Sossity, who will only call her when she passes a certain phone kiosk.

Several of the stories have apparently religious themes, such as ‘Fallen’, about a schoolgirl and an old man who argue over an object they find: he thinks it’s a gold band, she’s sure it’s a genuine halo. “For me,” Glyn says, “There’s a very fine line between religion and fairy tales. Both serve as moral guides, and both use the power of storytelling. What is the difference between a miracle and magic anyway?”

Come along to the free event (with drinks) at The Bookkeepeer Bookshop, 1a Kings Road, TN37 6DY to find out more.
It’s at 7.00 for 7.30, on Friday 10 May.

Also in: Literature