Daniel Bristow-Bailey Dog (2019)
I feel vaguely privileged to know the author of this through social media, which is why I have a copy - it being a short story produced in a numbered run of one-hundred as an A5 booklet. A man orders dog from the menu of what is described as a traditional restaurant, partially because he's drunk and partially out of curiosity, and it all goes downhill from there. I'd say it reminds me a little of Will Self, but the comparison is probably just me being lazy on the grounds that were Dog to feature a robot I might invoke Isaac Asimov. I'd say it's allegorical, although what I probably mean is that, being a short story, Dog is under no obligation to obey reality - which also relates to what it's about, roughly speaking: the realities we make for ourselves when the truth is too awful to contemplate, which seems quite timely given all the shite going on in the world right now. The realities here are pretty horrible, but as always we tell ourselves it's okay, that it isn't how it looks; and yet it is. Awful truths are allowed enough of a description to work within the story without putting anyone off their lunch, so Dog is almost like the Amphetamine Sulphate title that's okay to take home and introduce to your parents, which is a compliment. Somebody out there needs to be chucking money at Daniel Bristow-Bailey and begging him to write more.
I feel vaguely privileged to know the author of this through social media, which is why I have a copy - it being a short story produced in a numbered run of one-hundred as an A5 booklet. A man orders dog from the menu of what is described as a traditional restaurant, partially because he's drunk and partially out of curiosity, and it all goes downhill from there. I'd say it reminds me a little of Will Self, but the comparison is probably just me being lazy on the grounds that were Dog to feature a robot I might invoke Isaac Asimov. I'd say it's allegorical, although what I probably mean is that, being a short story, Dog is under no obligation to obey reality - which also relates to what it's about, roughly speaking: the realities we make for ourselves when the truth is too awful to contemplate, which seems quite timely given all the shite going on in the world right now. The realities here are pretty horrible, but as always we tell ourselves it's okay, that it isn't how it looks; and yet it is. Awful truths are allowed enough of a description to work within the story without putting anyone off their lunch, so Dog is almost like the Amphetamine Sulphate title that's okay to take home and introduce to your parents, which is a compliment. Somebody out there needs to be chucking money at Daniel Bristow-Bailey and begging him to write more.
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