Slinger

By Liam Leddy

When is help harmful? To the recipient and the donor. Beware og good-or bad- intentions

• Language: English
• Publisher: Liam Leddy
• Release date: Dec 27, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301173105

Liam Leddy

See my website www.liamleddy.comThe two novels Body Language and Bad Form I have written to date are Glasgow sixties crime fiction. Raw , uncompromising Glasgow sreet crime , warts and all. Twists, turns, surprises and violence abound. In conjunction with my numerous short story collections both sell very well indeed in bookstores and to libraries and of course my readers in general.This month alone, December 2012, I have been filmed by Scottish Television re my work. This will be screened by STV mid January. I have also done telephone interviews for television companies about my work in December together with Library presentations. Looking for more exposure as always particularly to Scottish ex-pats the world over. I believe thoughts will always stray to the land of your birth. Or city of your birth. In this case Glasgow. Beautiful, generous, humour filled and lovable. Also, on occasion, dark and very, very scary.My latest short story collection "Tales of Dedication" is now available on Smashwords together with all my usual outlets. I have always been of the opinion that the short story form is sadly neglected in favour of the novel. Short stories are not short novels and vice versa. How many times have I heard the words he/she has "only written" when applied to the short story author. Not true in my case. And certainly not true with the vast majority of world famous authors. I love to read and write short stories and believe that all libraries are missing out if they do not have a separate section for short story collections and anthologies Just updating my new all smiling photo of me on Smashwords because that`s the one I use on my fabulous brand new website. This new site is so user friendly it confuses me. Not a hard thing to do granted.My first novel Body Language is being re-formatted by my new publisher Authorhouse and will very shortly be available in all major print outlets globallyAs of now Tuesday 23/06/15 my books are available in on request from either Amazon Createspace Authorhouse Barnes & Noble Abe Books Books a Million.... In short almost anywhere globally. My books sell in USA UK Germany Canada Italy and surprisingly enough - to me at any rate - Brazil. Now seeking Scottish expat readers globally and book readers in general who may or may not be familiar with Scotland and particularly Glasgow. Watch my videos on Youtube Stage 32 and VimeoMost readers- because of my neglect in updating my Smashwords bio for so long- will be unaware of how many five star reviews my work is receiving at present. Check them out on my author pages at both Amazon and Authorsden. Then buy them wherever you choose. Smashwords for example. The same books are all here!Check my books out. Recently had six accepted for Premium Catalog. Note the entire Lassiter series to date is now in Premium

Book preview

SLINGER

AND OTHER TALES

Written by Liam Leddy

SHELBY

He was quite simply the funniest man I had ever encountered. I first met Billy Shelby when he arrived in our village and bought over THE OLD MILL, our local pub some two years before he was persuaded to reconsider and go back to his old profession. Most people have experienced changes in their lives but when it all came out about Billy it took it took quite some time for it to sink in that they were talking about the same man that I had come to regard as

a trusted friend. Let me go back those couple of years.

The previous owners of THE OLD MILL, Jack and Doris Troy, had been very nice people who had decided to sell up and retire to Malta and sold the picturesque old pub to the highest bidder. That was Billy. Nobody knew much about him other than that he had decided to move away from London and had always wanted to own a pub. Within a matter of weeks Shelby had transformed the image of the pub purely and simply by stamping his own personality on the place. He did this with one simple strategy. If you were a regular patron of his establishment and he liked you, he insulted you. But he was so hysterically funny when he did it no one to my knowledge ever took offence. People loved it. It made them feel welcome; maybe even a little more important than they actually were. Let me describe one of my early visits to Shelby's pub.

As the retired village G.P. people tend to give me a little more respect than I'm comfortable with, a fact that Shelby sussed out very quickly. On entering the small bar I remarked to all and sundry and nobody in particular what a beautiful day it was. Without turning round to see who had come in, obvious to everyone else, Shelby said jovially, well, why don’t you just piss off back outside and enjoy it and give us all a bit of peace then? There was a stunned silence, a few nervous giggles, and then roars of laughter myself included. He later confided in me fairly regularly and we became pretty close friends. He said he'd noticed that I

was basically quite shy and needed bringing out of myself. The thing was; he was right.

On fIrst meeting Billy I remember thinking that he wouldn't look out of place anywhere. I put his age anywhere between early fifties to middle sixties because for some inexplicable reason I always felt he looked younger than he actually was. Don't ask me why. A small good looking man with an air of supreme self-confidence, he was always smartly dressed to the point of irritation. Nobody ever remarked on this. It would mean verbal suicide to remotely disapprove of anything about Shelby.

The thing was that deep down Billy was one of the kindest men I have ever met. He was also very perceptive. If, for example, he sensed he might be offending someone he would stop instantly and apologise. He knew exactly how far to go. On one occasion however that rule didn't apply. That was the day Ted Danvers made the mistake of taking Billy on at verbal abuse, God help him.

Danvers did not normally drink in THE OLD MILLor old fucking millstone as Billy called it. When he did the atmosphere changed instantly. He was not a likeable man. He was loud, overbearing, drank too much and what he classed as a sense of humour was undeniably simply cruelty. He was overweight and ate and drank as if there was no tomorrow. He owned his business and was obviously not short of money but dressed very badly and had absolutely no conception of personal hygiene. Empty cigarette packets and crisp packets would be thrown on the floor right next to the waste bin. What he called a sense of humour would invariably involve misfortune or even physical disability. He was also a control freak and a bully who could always spot the most vulnerable person in the bar. When he exploded into the bar that evening there were only two other customers there. Myself and Jean my wife of thirty years. I love her dearly but she'll forgive me if I don't elaborate as this incident really only relates to Shelby and Danvers.

Danvers had never seen Shelby before and vice-versa. For reasons best known to himself Danvers always accorded Jean and myself his form of civility. He left us alone and actually attempted to ingratiate himself with us. That left him with only one logical target. Shelby.

"Nice fucking welcome I