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Best Man

Published as e-book only. Amazon Standard Identification Number: B00A1A3WL6.

These three original short stories published for the first time in digital format enlarge and expand on the themes outlined in the novel Lost Bodies. They reassemble these elements into a single story with three strands, or a novella in three parts.

The research here expressed as creative practice continues threads of post-colonialist and post-feminist theory and introduces Queer Theory.

‘Inkerman’ is set in an industrial and post-industrial setting and deals with the reality of employment, unemployment, family and industrial processes, society and the environment being formed by waves of historical change. A man sets out to protect his family by stealing a whole car, one piece at a time, from the factory where he works, in a race against time before a change which has happened before returns, and the factory closes.

‘Best Man’ is a comedy about men’s relationships expressed in events and causes usually pigeon-holed as female. Two male friends pass an eating disorder from one to the other. As their fortunes fluctuate, so does their weight. Love, respect, success and wealth bring health; their opposites bring isolation, failure and addiction to food.

‘The Other’ is the story of an impossible friendship. Two men of different sexualities attempt to understand each other, but the sexual divide with the AIDS virus at its height cuts across many more social norms than either of them can deal with. Illness and the threat of death - or, even worse, recovery - split their routes beyond repair.

Scottish in setting, the places, relationships and events could happen anywhere.