THE BITS THAT DIDN’T FIT is a collection of stories inhabited by the loose nuts, bolts and washers of society. Tales told by the queer, the quirky and the downright demented.
The misfits of society. The sad, the sick, the funny and the tragic. The bits that don’t fit.
My father used to tell me stories, when I was young, about the men he worked with on ships and at power stations. He worked in a very male world, a world where men did crazy things. His tales were always funny and frequently tragic.
I’m continuing the family tradition with tales of testosterone, but my characters try to cohabit the World of Women, a world in which often they are the bits that don’t fit.
This collection is populated by taxi drivers, punk musicians, a bunch of blokes, and their girlfriends, and the cast of Pride and Prejudice. It covers the rise and fall of a punk band, observations of society from behind the wheel of a cab and more failing relationships than you can poke a spanner at.
Some of these stories were intended to be part of my novel, The Road Behind, but they didn’t fit. Some were written long ago and have been wandering the streets searching for a home ever since. Some were penned especially for this collection and some are made up of odd bits and pieces – patched together like Frankenstein’s monster.
Inevitably when putting a motor back together, you’ll end up with bits left over – bits that don’t seem to fit. Then, after you get your car back on the road and take it for a test drive, and you grind to a standstill after a few kilometres, you realise these are the most important bits. Those bits actually did fit after all.
I bring you those bits: tales of comedy, tragedy and pornography; of rock n roll, of lost souls, and a little historical romance to fill in the holes.
The story of Elizabeth Bennett’s nymphomaniac sister didn’t fit Jane Austen’s tale, and doesn’t really fit these bits either. Yet, perversely, here it is.
The Bits that Didn’t Fit by Jonathan Griffiths
Publisher: Water Pump Press
ISBN: 978-0-9871160-0-0
