Dogskin Boy - a new Scottish novel by Gilbert Summers
by - 13:40 on 12 December 2007
I think that anyone who deals with words for a living ends up with material that gets filed away with the vague notion of using some time in the future. Then again, writers are always on the lookout for interesting tales. And most families have stories from the past that are handed down and that may or not be true. Dip into all this material and a writer can end up with mental storage space filled with metaphorical off-cuts and other stuff too useful to throw away.Actually, I’m making all this sound like that drawer in the kitchen where we keep string and bag-ties. What I’m trying to say is that I eventually fitted all the bits and pieces together – family tales and heritage, even work experience and, using imagination as the glue, put together a Scottish novel, which I have called Dogskin Boy. Naturally, it’s coloured by spending so much working time describing Scotland, so that it has elements of a guide book – but it’s my little portrait of some of the dour, daft and deep aspects of some east coast folk. And in case it is in danger of appearing too serious, I have woven in a curious tale about a love-struck orang utan, complete with a dramatic denouement. Och, you’ll just have to read it for yourself. (It's available on Amazon via the link below.)
My thanks to everyone over the years who has viewed the project with amused tolerance. This includes a special thank-you to my father-in-law, Steuart Campbell, who is a published author of devastatingly logical non-fiction. Heaven knows what he must really think of this flight of fancy. (You should read him for his opinion of the Loch Ness Monster.) Also my thanks go to Colin Arthur in Edinburgh and Veronica Smith in Elgin for their further editorial input.
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