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The Red Grouse Tales is a collection of speculative short stories conveying thought-provoking ideas through the stories of average people. What was the inspiration for the ideas behind your stories?
That is a difficult question to answer; where does inspiration come from? I suppose I feel that our world is pretty amoral – yes, it is immoral as well – and so ideas and themes relating to some form of morality interest me. As regards the writing of a story, some parts come amazingly easily, whereas others have to be really worked on. If I tell you that I wrote the central section of ‘The Golden Tup’ all in just a few days, whereas I worked up three different endings for ‘The Little Dog’ story, before finally settling on the one that I chose, you’ll get the idea. I am not a fan of ‘penny dreadful’s’ and like stories to be ‘plausible’ even if we know that they actually aren’t. So inevitably my stories tend to start slowly; one needs to set the scene and then introduce the story into it as though it really did happen. Most of the stories in our own lives start without us realising it and it is only when we are reasonably well into it that we realise that something is happening, or indeed has happened. My personal preference is for stories that have a bit of meat to them, so writers who have influenced me include Joseph Conrad, William Golding and Herman Hesse. I also owe a huge debt of gratitude to David Almond – who, by the way, lives just up the valley from me – for his book ‘Skellig’. The surreal concept of finding a real life angel in a garage just did it for me – wonderful! – and made me realise that my ideas were not so outlandish after all and could make stories, and it was this story of his that got me started on writing.
Your characters are felt unique but authentic. What were some driving ideals behind your character’s development?
This question is not dissimilar to the previous one. Whereas one or two of my characters are almost, and I must emphasise the ‘almost’, a direct copy from life, most are made up. I suppose all characters are a mix of people who I have come across plus a bit of imagination, and I suspect the story also helps to drive the character. As a writer you have to ask yourself what sort of person would do this or that, behave in this or that way, and then you try and write the character to fit.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
As you pick up on in your review, evil was probably the main theme; it and how people react to it. The Little Dog explores evil in a person and The Golden Tup evil in a place. The Crow is primarily about vanity and how it can distort an individual’s view of others and events, whereas The White Hart is at heart a battle of the sexes story, with a rather sexist male stance gradually being seen for what it is. Of course I enjoyed throwing in observations about life and death, the naivety of youth, religion and the concepts of good and evil and, as already mentioned, the battle of the sexes. All these are old favourites, but they are fun to explore.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
I am currently writing a trilogy loosely based on Dante’s Divine Comedy. For this I am borrowing from my civil engineering background and making the first part about the construction of a tunnel, the second about the surveying of a road and the third about the construction of a bridge. These will be modern day versions of Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso. I am adjusting the stories of course, but broadly speaking the general theme will be the same; namely that of the protagonist discovering himself, coupled with a rather sad love affair. So far I am well on with the first two parts, though have yet to make a start on the third. When will it be available? My wife died recently, so my personal life is in a bit of a mess at present, So I would guess at, at least a year from now at the earliest. However, if readers are wanting another book, I have two novellas to choose from; The Bat and The Blue Horse; as well as an award winning novel, The Ghost Moth.
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The Little Dog – a story of good and evil and retribution. Bill, a retired forester, recounts a week in his early working life when he was paired with an unsavoury workmate. This commences with them finding a little domestic dog sitting beside a forest haul-road way out in a remote part of the forest. As Bill wonders what this little dog is doing in such an unlikely location the week becomes increasingly uncomfortable. When the little dog disappears events take an unexpected turn and our young troubled and naive Bill starts to learn some awful truths.
The Golden Tup – a dreadful tale of paradise being cruelly taken by latent evil. This story opens with the shocking news that a nice young couple have killed their new born baby. How could they have done such a dreadful thing? Our narrator, Verity, recalls how the pair bought an old derelict farmhouse and commenced renovating it; creating their own paradise. However, their felling of an old tree changed everything.
The Crow – a poignant tale of misunderstanding, dying, bitterness and blame. As a child, David, is taken to a hospice by his mother where he finds himself listening to an increasingly mad tale told by a dying and embittered old Irish priest. But why do the old priest’s recollections of the school days and subsequent rise of a local councillor become so increasingly bizarre and bitter?
The White Hart – a happy ghost story, if there can be such a thing! What might connect a chance encounter with a little albino deer, an equally unexpected meeting with a beautiful, but somewhat enigmatic young girl in a remote chapel, and a third, just as strange an incident, on a windswept hillside? Pete Montague, relates a redemptive, happy ghost story – if there can be such a thing!
The Red Grouse Tales: The Little Dog and other stories
![The Red Grouse Tales: The Little Dog and other stories. by [Leslie Garland]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41c-nXMg3fL.jpg)
The Red Grouse Tales consists of four thought-provoking short stories written by author Leslie Garland. The setting takes place in a local bar among several patrons who all take turns telling their intriguing metaphysical tales. Although this is somewhat of a philosophical collection of stories I felt that the opinions and ideas expressed came about organically and this makes the reader question how they would feel or act rather than forcing ideas on the reader. Spiritual concepts are also explored, which allows for a lot of reader interpretation.
Each story is told at the bar on a Thursday night and each story feels like they are part of a casual conversation, like a friend is telling you a story, regardless of ‘who’ is telling their story, it always feels authentic, even with the supernatural elements. Each patron tells a story that is relatable to the reader, in one way or another- such as conveying life lessons or depicting circumstances that are commonly faced.
I started reading the book without any prior knowledge of author Leslie Garland or their writing, but I was impressed with the authors literary skill and ability to convey some abstract ideas in a fascinating and easy to understand way.
The reoccurring theme in The Red Grouse Tales is evil, whether it is a person that is evil or perceived as evil or the world as a whole containing evil. These stories are written from the first person perspective which provides an interesting and unique lens through which evil is interpreted in the story. While I enjoyed the book overall, I felt that book started off slowly and I was worried I was not going to be pulled in, but thankfully this is more of a slow-burn style of storytelling that lures you in with the subtle but compelling storytelling and thick atmosphere, so that by the end I was completely engrossed.
I enjoyed how bits of true crime were incorporated into the stories, and made them sound eerily familiar to real life and some cases you may know or have followed. In the end the reader is left to wonder what they think is right and wrong in this compelling collection of short stories.
Pages: 370 | ASIN: B018VWOVIU
The Red Grouse Tales
![The Red Grouse Tales: The Little Dog and other stories. by [Garland, Leslie W P]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51HWtRNQKAL.jpg)
The Red Grouse Tales by Leslie W. P. Garland is a book comprised of four short stories. Each story starts off with a quote followed by someone telling that particular tale. Each story revolves around the theme of religion. However, the theme is not heavy or overtaking the tale. Each short story starts off slow complete with building suspense and a twist ending. Each story has its own unique lesson one can learn and think about, making them slightly philosophical. While each telling is different, the main theme is good and evil, which gives the reader a lot to ponder.
I enjoyed this collection of stories and would recommend them. One of my favorite parts of these short stories were the fable-like feeling. They each told a story with a surprising lesson attached to each. I also greatly enjoyed the way the stories were written. Each had a way of telling a story through another person, which made the reading interesting and fun for me. I think it was a nice, added detail that gave it a more authentic feeling of sitting around and hearing a tale as well as making it seem more like a fable.
This book consists of four short stories. The Little Dog is the first one, which I felt, was a great story to start off with. It hooked me in the book itself to see what the rest of them have to offer. I think this short story in particular really set up the rest of the book as it was suspenseful and thought-provoking. It contained one of the more interesting ideas I have come across in a book: What is evil? According to this tale, evil does not have a conscious. I had to pause and think about this for a bit afterward because it was such an interesting concept to propose.
The second was The Crow, which I also greatly enjoyed. The contrast between the teenager and the older man in the story was stark, and I liked to see those differences between the two of them. I think this one was my favorite out of the four as it showed you how unique perspectives can be.
I also found The Golden Tup to be particularly interesting. I think it was my second favorite out of the collection. It was told in a suspenseful and fun way. The White Hart was not of any particular interest to me, personally, when compared to the others, but it fits in with the other tales and tied them together nicely.
All together, I found this collection to be immensely entertaining.
Pages: 347 | ASIN: B018VWOVIU
LITERARY TITAN 