Dogsbodies & Scumsters
Author Alan McCormick, Illustrator Jonny Voss
Stories Performed by InterAct
A Roast Books Event
Tues, Jun 7, 2011. 7pm
Free entry but places limited

Alan McCormick’s stories delve into a world of unfortunates and unforgettables, where humour is found in the darkest places and humanity comes in unexpected forms

The Dogsbodies are twisted tales about those rarely seen or heard. Meet Real Mummy who is a regular attendee with her daughter at the local casualty, Brenda who watches Noel Edmonds in a dead man’s house, and The Builder who offers a writer a traumatic experience to write about. Some of the stories have been performed in live story events in London. Others were written when Alan McCormick was Writer in Residence with InterAct Reading Service, a charity bringing the performed word to people who have had strokes to aid their recovery.

A charged and intense collection, this book brings together the brittle poignancy of McCormick’s Dogsbodies stories with the absurd surrealism of Scumsters, shorter works inspired by the illustrations of Jonny Voss.

Voss’s inspiration for the Scumsters illustrations comes from a variety of sources, many from the backstreets and canals of East London. He often draws in one continuous line and McCormick writes in response to these pictures.


‘Chillingly understated, delicate and disturbingly hilarious, Alan McCormick writes with sober compassion about ordinary, vulnerable and sometimes psychotic characters, struggling in an all-too-real world.’ Mia Farlane
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Contact Stine via email at stinasmemo - a - gmail.com
Alan McCormick worked in a psychiatric hospital in the early 80’s and some of the stories are inspired by this experience, and by the subsequent struggle of patients as they were forced out into a world they were ill-equipped to deal with when the hospital closed down. His short stories have won numerous prizes and been widely published and performed. He lives in Middlesex, bringing up his children and writing.

Jonny Voss studied illustration at Brighton University and then went on to study at the RCA. He has been working in London as an illustrator since 2000. His personal drawings and commissioned work can be seen at www.jonnyvoss.com

InterAct Reading Service is the only UK charity dedicated to supporting stroke recovery by using professional actors to deliver a live and interactive reading service to people who have had a stroke in hospitals and at stroke clubs. For more information about InterAct, please visit their website at www.interactreading.org.uk

Roast Books is an independent South London publisher specialising in the best and quirkiest modern, shorter fiction. Roast Books bring magic and originality to their books and provide an engaging reading experience.