The Mating Call of the Racket-Tailed Drongo

Michael Tobert

ISBN 10: 1906307067 / ISBN 13: 9781906307066

Published by Luath Press, 2007

About this Item

The Mating Call of the Racket-Tailed Drongo by Michael Tobert (Luath Press, 2007) ISBN: 9781906307066 Condition: Good (in the Crappy Old Books grading system, that means: the cover is still clinging on with admirable loyalty, the pages are all present and accounted for, and the whole thing has that faintly adventurous look of a book that may once have been read on a train, in a café, or perhaps while pretending to be interested in birdsong in the back garden). The title alone ? The Mating Call of the Racket-Tailed Drongo ? sounds like something between an Attenborough documentary and a lost Monty Python sketch. But Michael Tobert isn?t writing a field guide here. He?s giving us a novel that flaps, swoops, and dive-bombs through human folly, romance, and the curious intersections of ordinary life and extraordinary metaphor. The drongo, for those not in the ornithological know, is a real bird with a flair for mimicry and an unforgettable tail. Much like the book itself, it imitates things you think you recognise and then suddenly turns into something else entirely. It?s wry, it?s sharp, it?s got that ?small press gem? energy ? the sort of novel you stumble across and then wonder why everyone else is still reading the same three thrillers from the airport chart. Tobert manages to smuggle in wit, wisdom, and the occasional philosophical feather without ever taking himself too seriously. Our copy is rated Good , which means it has survived its first flight and is ready for a second reader to take it on. The pages may show the faintest signs of previous perching, but nothing that would stop you from enjoying the full plumage of the prose. If you?ve ever thought that literature could use more drongos (both avian and human varieties), or if you just like your novels with a side of playful eccentricity, then this is the book for you. It?s rare, it?s quirky, it?s a little bit niche ? just like the bird it?s named after. Perfect for: lovers of oddball fiction, amateur birdwatchers who secretly prefer novels to binoculars, and anyone whose shelves already groan under the weight of ?serious? literature and could use a dash of racket-tailed mischief.

Seller Inventory # 4341

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Mating Call of the Racket-Tailed Drongo
• Publisher: Luath Press
• Publication Date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1906307067
• ISBN 13: 9781906307066
• Binding: Hardback
• Condition: Good

About this title

Synopsis

The August and Venerable Golf Club of St Magnus is in trouble. Under an ancient deed, the members discover that their beloved Clubhouse will revert to the daughter of the local fishmonger if, on her eighteenth birthday, she is still a virgin. The birthday is imminent, and the Secretary decides to take matters into his own hands. As the day of reckoning draws near, suitors, snakes, Sanskrit, fish, tsunamis, the Kama Sutra, secret tunnels, Japanese reporters, the halls of Harmonia, and the fated footsteps of true love pop up like sprinklers on a golf course or vowels in the Vedas. This irreverent story twists and winds like an Indian python towards its surprising soft-breathed Scottish apocalypse.

About the Author

Michael Tobert lives in Fife. This is his first foray into fiction, following the success of his hilarious travel guide to St Andrews.