Liner Notes for The Good Boy

 

The Liner Notes for my story The Good Boy.

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Thanks to me posting stories in the 1^st of the month, trying to do a Halloween event requires me either changing the schedule, or doing something special. I’ve done both in the past. This time I’ve posted a spooky story on the 1^st of October; if for some reason you’re reading this on time but haven’t read the story yet maybe you could wait for the day of ghouls and ghosts, or as close as you can make it. Just an idea.

The story about the dog is true. Not the digging up bodies, dogs do that sometimes though not as often as the TV or even crime novels would have you believe. It’s the much-missed dog who ran away outside of town, became a local social media dog-walker celebrity and after about 24 hours on the run and multiple spottings ran into the owners’ local and sat under their regular table. A relative did work there (that’s why they were regulars, it’s not a weird coincidence), though she was off-shift, so they rang her to collect the dog. A happy ending.

The Human Remains Act is true too, unless you’re licensed then you should leave any human remains less than a hundred years old alone. How do you know how old they are? Better call in the authorities, get them dealt with officially.

The rest is made up!

If you want to know what the pub is it’s The New Inn of my story The Red Cap Of Old Hobb Mill (Kaleidotrope, Summer 2022), and not any other New Inn, real or fictional. G H Ool was a joke/placeholder name that I put into the newsletter that kicked off the Strandbridge stories. But when I had the idea of a dog that dug up bodies, then it was obvious who would be part of the story.

It's another story told to a stranger in a pub. This does happen sometimes, though not as often as the TV, crime novels, or my stories would have you believe. The stories don’t tend to be as interesting either, even if I’m telling them.

Especially if I’m telling them.

I brought back John Tattersail, who seems to always be trying to stop things getting out of hand in the town. In this case, the local historians getting overwhelmed with stuff. There’s a lot of history about, and once you start digging it up there’s no end to it.

Anyway, there you go. There’s a good boy who digs up bones and a less-good one who may have buried them. Have a good October.