In my youth, the early 1990s, one could buy pamphlets that might include short stories by the young Irvine Welsh (the stories that turned into Trainspotting) or James Kelman. I remember the stories published by Clocktower Press, among others, as having an energy that promised there were changes going on somewhere (this was during Margaret Thatcher’s reign so the promise of any sort of change was eagerly received).
Dogsbodies and Scumsters could have been published as a pamphlet because it has that sort of energy: stories about the lives of the people you pass on the street or momentarily feel sorry for when they start crying in the local park but told with a vivacity that gives their characters personalities and pasts. In fact, now that the comparison with Irvine Welsh and James Kelman has been implied, what Alan McCormick’s characters have in common with them is a spirit, a belief that every life is worth writing about and the nobility of that life can always be found. Instead of a pamphlet Dogsbodies and Scumsters is published as a perfectly presentable book, made much more attractive by Jonny Voss’s drawings.
There are two distinct styles in the book, ‘Dogsbodies’ are short stories that portray events that might be overheard on a bus but are imagined with an empathetic wit that gives every story an emotional resonance and depth. ’Scumsters’ are short absurdist pieces, in one a goat kills a snake and the goat finds that he can speak yet “up until now had never uttered a word in his life”. These shorter pieces are accompanied by Jonny Voss’s imaginative illustrations, and which share Alan McCormick’s delight in the humour and warmth of common life. Jonny Voss’s drawings also have the pleasing effect of making Dogsbodies and Scumsters reminiscent of Ivor Cutler’s works (and you don’t need to be Mark Radcliffe, a disc jockey on the wireless for those youngsters who don’t remember his career on Radio 1, to think that’s a good thing).
The stories that make up ‘Dogsbodies’ are structured around deeply imagined characters. In just an opening sentence or paragraph it’s remarkable how Alan McCormick can build their personalities so indelibly and make them so rooted in the world of common unhappiness that can be seen in any pub. We encounter these characters at the moments when their lives are changing, but so well established are the relationships in the stories that even the most mundane conversation exposes the inevitability of the conflicts and frustrations in their lives. In ’Deal or No Deal’ Brenda is told in the opening line that “you’re your own worst enemy” and slowly we discover Brenda’s flaw: she has left the corpse of her next door neighbour to rot while she watches ’Deal or No Deal’ on his TV. Yet it all fits perfectly with McCormick’s description of Brenda’s daily life, her vulnerability and kindness (an exposed humanity) that leads her to commit what appears to be an inhuman act.
Any Cop?: Short, surprising stories of lives and situations that should be numbingly routine but Alan McCormick gives them a dimension and understanding that is compelling.
James Doyle
Bookmunch 